ABSTRACT Grounded in Heritage is a Master s project derived from part of the researcher s Post- Graduate Diploma research based on the Jingdezhen porc

Transcription

1 Grounded in Heritage: An Exploration of Traditional Cultural Clusters in China The Case of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Yuting (Jane) Zhuang A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Commerce at the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand January 2011

2 ABSTRACT Grounded in Heritage is a Master s project derived from part of the researcher s Post- Graduate Diploma research based on the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster, which challenges Michael Porter s Competitive Advantage of Nations model as well as investigating whether Western cluster theories are applicable to Chinese traditional cultural clusters, and how Chinese traditional cultural clusters will contribute to cluster research as a whole. Jingdezhen porcelain is an icon of Chinese traditional culture clusters, with a recorded history of over 2,200 years. Chang Nan the ancient name of the city was pronounced by foreign buyers as china, indicating the importance of the products of this cluster in creating the world s image of China. In comparison, the earliest cluster example presented in Porter s book Competitive Advantage of Nations (Porter, 1990) has a history of only about 400 years. When considering the duration of its history and the uniqueness of Chinese culture, deeper research into the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster is expected to contribute to the current body of knowledge regarding clusters. In order to reveal the characteristics of the entire porcelain cluster, including aspects such as the business environment, business network, business operations, coordination techniques, and production procedures, Grounded Theory is employed. Grounded Theory is considered to be the most rigorous suitable analysis method, freeing researchers from theoretical restrictions while aiming for a more holistic view of the research target. Research methods complementary to Grounded Theory were utilised for data collection: interviews, observation, field notes, and historiography. Due to the complexity of this project and the multiple research methods employed, the data is classified into divisions. The main data library for Grounded Theory is compiled from three streams of first hand data: interviews conducted in Beijing; interviews conducted in Jingdezhen; and field notes from both places. The data collected through historiography is subsumed into extant literature (see Figure 9). The three sets of data in the data library are inter-dependent and are coded separately; therefore, the examination of theoretical saturation is not only confirmed by its own stream, but also examined by data from historiography. Thirteen key categories arise from coding of the data. From these categories, nine distinctive figures are generated based on eight categories with the five remaining categories leading to five conceptual findings, all presented in Chapter Five. Due to the novel approach taken to Grounded Theory, this project also presents a contribution in the application of Grounded Theory in industry and cluster research, as well as combining a variety of research methods together with Grounded Theory. The findings extend but do not conflict with classic cluster literature, and include outcomes specific to the cluster examined. Limitations and potential future research are discussed at the end of this report. i

3 PREFACE The production of this thesis relied on the efforts of my supervisor, André Everett, who provided supervision over the five years following completion of my undergraduate studies until now, in the areas of knowledge management, methodology, thesis crafting, information technology, and life guidance, with support from his library. I also thank Yujin Baskett for being my editor, who accepted the challenge when I had a difficult time finding one. I am also thankful for the support of my mum Sun Jianhui, father Zhuang Guoyi, and brother Stanley. Thank God! ii

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction How Recent History Led to Calls for Traditional Culture Restoration in China Terminology Personal Methodology Statement and the Nature of This Project Ontology and Epistemology Qualitative vs. Quantitative Grounded Theory as a Methodology The Use of Literature in Grounded Theory Research Venue: Why Jingdezhen? Chapter Summary Organisation of the Thesis Chapter Two: Background Literature Review Traditional Chinese Thought The Cornerstones of Confucianism and Taoism The Main Thoughts of Confucius and Lao Zi How These Two Philosophies Influence Traditional Arts and Culture How These Two Philosophies Influence Business Practices Section Summary Western Sociologists and their Influences in China The Sociologists: Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber Karl Marx Émile Durkheim Max Weber The Applications and Influences in China Western Economists and Their Theories Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations Alfred Marshall and Principles of Economics The History of Jingdezhen Chapter Summary Chapter Three: Research Design Application of Grounded Theory Glaser s Approach vs. Strauss s Approach The Choice of Data Sources and Data Collection Methods Interview In-Depth Interview Observation Field Notes Historiography Discussion of Elements and Procedures of Grounded Theory Preparing to Enter the Field Theoretical Sampling Coding Generating Theory Theoretical Memo Extant Literature Validity and Reliability Check Ethical Approval Chapter Summary iii

5 Chapter Four: Theoretical Sampling and Coding Fieldwork and Sampling Initial Fieldwork Preparation Fieldwork in Beijing Fieldwork in Jingdezhen First Trial of Coding The Final Structure of Grounded Theory Process Mapping the Key Findings Chapter Summary Chapter Five: The Emergence of Theory and Discussion Integrative Discussion of the Emerged Figures from Theory with Field Literatures Globalisation of the Economy and the Market Buyer Behaviours in Clusters External Business Environment Government Intervention Cluster Internal Network Cluster Population Study Divisions of Market Specialisation Cluster Incubation and Breeding Sustainability and Effectiveness Comparison between Markets Integrative Discussion of the Conceptual Findings with Field Literatures Cluster Theories with Competitiveness Chinese Cluster Research and Chinese Traditional Clusters SMEs, Entrepreneurship, and Financial and Production and Management Innovation Brand Management Chapter Summary Chapter Six: Conclusion Value and Contribution of the Research Limitations Further Research Possibilities Chapter Seven: References iv

6 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Definitions of Cluster... 5 Table 2: Comparison between Glaser s and Strauss s Approaches Table 3 Comparison between Strauss s and Glaser s Procedures Table 4: The Research Process Criteria Table 5: Interview One Task Timing Table Table 6: Possible Relevant Fields of Literature Table 7: Topics of the Nine Emerging Theories Table 8: Relevant Fields of Literature v

7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Timeline of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Development Figure 2: Grounded Theory s Building Process Model Figure 3: Grounded Theory s Building Process Model Updated by Fernandez Figure 4: Sampling and Coding Order Figure 5: Map of Jingdezhen City Centre Figure 6: Jingdezhen Porcelain Divisions Figure 7: Concept Indicator Model Figure 8: Modified Model Figure 9: Modified Model 2 Grounded Theory Application Design Figure 10: Jingdezhen Porcelain Within Global Economy Figure 11: Transformation of Buyer Behaviours: Roles, Locations, and Sourcing Channels Figure 12: Impact of External Business Environment on the Porcelain Industry Figure13: Government Intervention vs. Public Expectations Figure 14: Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Internal Network Core and Supporting Industries Figure 15: Porcelain Cluster Population Structure Figure 16: Traditional Divisions in Porcelain Technique Specialisations Figure 17: Contemporary Porcelain Cluster Incubation Timeline Figure 18: Comparison between Local-embedded and Government Planned Markets.. 83 vi

8 LIST OF CHINESE NAMES, LOCATIONS AND TERMS Names (Surname, First Name) Cheng Hao 程颢 Cheng Yi 程颐 Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹 Feng Youlan 冯友兰 Gu Kaizhi 顾恺之 Han Yu 韩愈 Hu Jingtao 胡景涛 Hu Zhongchu 霍仲初 Wang Jici 王缉慈 Kong Zi (K ung Chi iu) 孔子 Lao Zi 老子 Li Bai 李白 Fang Lili 方李莉 Liu Zhongyuan 柳中原 Meng Zi 孟子 Ouyang Xiu 欧阳修 Sima Qian 司马迁 Sung T ai-tsung 宋太宗 Tao Yu 陶玉 Wu Daozi 吴道子 Wu Zongyuan 武宗元 Zeng Zi 曾子 Zhao Kai 赵慨 Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu) 庄子 Zhu Xi 朱熹 Locations Cuiyun Dongfeng Fanjiajing Guangming Guomao Hongguang Hongqi Hongxing Jianguo Jinchangli Jingdehzen 翠云路东风瓷厂樊家井光明瓷厂国贸红光瓷厂红旗瓷厂红星瓷厂建国瓷厂金昌利景德镇 Jingxing Mogao Caves Panjiayuan Renmin Shaojiwu Taocidashijie Xinmindu Yishucichang Yuzhou Zhoudu 景兴瓷厂莫高窟潘家园人民瓷厂筲箕坞陶瓷大世界新民都艺术瓷厂宇宙瓷厂周都 Concepts and Terms Chunqiu Daojia Doucai Erh Falangcai Fengshenyanyi Hanshiwaizhuan Hongloumeng Hongwu Hutong Jiadao Jinpingmei 春秋道家斗彩耳珐琅彩封神演义汉史外传红楼梦洪武胡同贾道金瓶梅 Kangxi Kongzijiayu Li Liaozhaizhiyi Liji Liushu Lunyu Luoxue lüshichunqiu Minxue Qianlong Qinghua 康熙孔子家语礼聊斋志异礼记六书论语洛学吕氏春秋闽学乾隆青花 vii

9 viii Quyi 曲艺 Ren 仁 Ru 儒 Rujia 儒家 Sangang 三纲 Sanlu 三鹿 Shanshui 山水 Shi he yuan 四合院 Shiji 史记 Shijing 诗经 Shuer 述而 Shujing 书经 Sishu 四书 Sohu 搜狐 Susancai 素三彩 Taishan 泰山 Taixue 太学 Tao-te-ching 道德经 Wu 无 Wucai 五彩 Wuchang 无常 Wulun 五伦 Wuwei 无为 Xianyoushi 仙游诗 Xin 信 Xiyouji 西游记 Yi 义 Yijing (I Ching) 易经 Yongzheng 雍正 Yuejing 乐经 Zeng Ziwen 曾子问 Zhi 智 Zi 子 Ziran 自然

10 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This chapter is divided into four sections and will focus on the purpose of researching clusters in traditional Chinese industries, and how this research was carried out. The first section explores the urge for traditional culture in China with a brief social chronology of what has happened over the past 100 years, what had been transformed in the past 30 years with the Reform and Opening Up policy and what is expected for the future. Chinese culture is relevant not only for mainland China, but influences a broader region covering East and South-East Asian countries. Section 1 also covers current cluster studies and identifies research gaps involving traditional cultural clusters. Section 1.2 discusses the core terminology of cluster research, introducing definitions of the term cluster and traditional cultural cluster as used in this thesis. Section 1.3 covers methodological considerations, with a more thorough discussion of these considerations being explored in Chapter Three. The last section of this chapter, 1.4, is about the choice of venue(s) and why the porcelain cluster in Jingdezhen was the best choice for this research project. The relevant characteristics of Jingdezhen are also presented in Chapter Three. At the end of this chapter, the structure of this thesis will be outlined. 1.1 How Recent History Led to Calls for Traditional Culture Restoration in China On 19 December 2008, marking the 30 th anniversary of China s Reform and Opening Up policy, a national meeting was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. It attracted crowds of journalists from the United Kingdom, France, Japan, North Korea, the United States, and many other countries to commemorate this special moment in China s history (China News, 2008). The world is talking about China more than ever; not just because its population of 1.33 billion people (CIA, 2009) makes up more than a fifth of the world s total (CIA, 2009), but also due to the continuous rapid economic growth experienced since implementing the reform policy. The most notable indicator of this is the average of nearly 10 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per annum (Gabriel, 2006) for almost 18 years (Index Mundi, 2009, Chinability, 2009). China is renowned as the world s factory (Zhang, 2006) and is now the top exporter in the world (Bradsher and Judy, 2010). Some scholars have praised its reform process and consider China as the powerhouse or new engine of the world economy (Garnaut and Song, 2003). However, just as each coin has two sides, there have been negative impacts of China s progress of modernisation and industrialisation. Many scholars have started questioning the sustainability of China s economic model in relation to its society, focusing on issues such as the environment (Garnaut and Song, 2004, Tubilewicz, 2006). The damage caused by over-industrialisation has affected both the natural environment and cultural heritage. For example, China s capital Beijing used to have a huge number of 1

11 architectural complexes called si he yuan (quadrangle) and hutong (ancient alley way). They are the only existing imperial civil architecture in China (Luo, 2001). However, 1500 hutong disappeared from 1980 to 2000, leaving only a few hundred (Yang, 2005). Although China has committed to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris 1972 (UNESCO, 2009b, Wikipedia, 2009c), it still could not balance the business profits from tourism with a commitment to continuous protection and renovation of sites on the world heritage list. An increasing number of historic towns and heritage sites are now endangered, such as the Mogao Caves and Mount Taishan (People's Net, 2006). Such disregard of cultural heritage among the Chinese has been nurtured in the transformation of people s minds during the past 60 years of industrialisation; their perceptions, priorities and attitudes towards China s traditions. An external cause could be the abrupt shift from a feudal system to democracy, and then to communism. An internal cause could be the severe conflicts between traditional Chinese philosophies (e.g. Confucianism and Taoism) and communist education and practices. During the first 30 years under communism, China copied the industrialisation model of the then Soviet-Russia and over-stressed the development of heavy industries, disregarding the need for complementary industries and agriculture (Renwu Magazine, 2006). The needs of the general public for consumable products were not satisfied. During that period, there were many major strategic mistakes, including the Big Push, Great Leap Forward, and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (Wikipedia, 2009b). These political errors, especially during the Cultural Revolution, encouraged cheating, enmity, jealousy, selfishness, treachery, lying, rebellion, distrust, and disobedience to parents. The bourgeoisie and educated people (including artists) experienced cruel persecution, with over 3 million dying in the violence of the Cultural Revolution (Chang and Halliday, 2005). Many antiques were destroyed, and many historic sites representing traditional Chinese culture were damaged (Wikipedia, 2009a). Following implementation of the Reform and Opening Up policy in 1978, the world was given the chance to enter China and China gained access to the world, creating significant new opportunities for businesses and green fields for entrepreneurs. During this time, the common interest of the majority of Chinese was how to make money; only a small proportion of people understood and appreciated the value of historic cultural heritage and tradition. Following 30 years of the Reform and Opening Up policy, people s standard of life has improved significantly. The composition of industries being developed has adjusted, with light industry drawing more attention. The country has started to balance the production of capital goods and consumption goods (HUST, 2009). International trade has boomed. After the general populous reached a decent standard of living, they started to enjoy more recreation time and activities and to seek spiritual satisfaction. According to Maslow s Hierarchy of Needs (Simons et al., 1987), this is logical. Traditional culture returned to people s lives. 2

12 However, the discontinuity and disregard of traditional culture as well as the majority of outstanding artists being persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution has resulted in the loss without record of much of the traditional cultural arts. Due to its low visibility, the intangible traditional cultural heritage is still shrinking with a stronger momentum than the tangible heritage. In other words, since the 1940s, traditional arts have been dying while the mechanical industries have boomed (Shu, 2008). In 2003, UNESCO adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO, 2009a). This convention entered into force on April 20 th, 2006, and stated that: Many elements of the ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage) are endangered, due to effects of globalization, uniformization policies, and lack of means, appreciation and understanding which taken together may lead to the erosion of functions and values of such elements and to lack of interest among the younger generations. Over the past ten years, China has become more sensitive to protecting its national heritage. Since 1997, it is aligned with UNESCO in the proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (UNESCO, 2009a). In 2006, the Chinese National Academy of Arts established the Centre of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection in China (CICHPC) (Chinese National Academy of Arts, 2009). The Centre comprises of nine divisions in total: Folk Literature and Language, Music, Dance, Drama, Quyi (Chinese Opera or Chinese folk art forms including ballad singing, storytelling, comic dialogues, clapper talks, cross talks, etc. (CNTA, 2009)), Fine Arts, Handicrafts, Traditional Medicine and Folk Art (IHCHINA, 2009). The Experts Committee consists of 68 experts and artists from a variety of fields. Because of the high degree of national and international support it received, the term Intangible Cultural Heritage in China soon became a brand denoting quality intangible cultural heritage. This fame has translated into commercial profit, mainly from increased recreational activities and tourism. Aside from gaining direct profit from traditional cultural arts and activities, there is a huge unexplored pool of indirect spiritual value arising from traditional cultural practices. Traditional culture is not only about the survival activities of ancestors, but also knowledge, value, and meaning the fruits of wisdom derived from their daily practice (Kong, 1997). Landmann (Landmann, 1974) states that individuals must take up their relevant cultural heritage and climb over it to achieve personal development. To achieve full development, the only way is to live in a convergent society that takes tradition into account. In early 2009, Sohu (a major Chinese internet portal) initiated the 2009 New Perspective Summit Forum around the theme of Back to the Innocent Age (Sohu, 2009b). It attracted many active economists, entrepreneurs, sociologists, politicians and media talents to discuss the future of China s reforms and opening-up. Wu, a former ambassador, took the example of Sanlu milk powder and questioned the whole system of credibility in China. He suggested 3

13 that in order to build up the credibility system, China needed to return to its traditional culture, as it was culture that underlies the credibility system (Sohu, 2009c). Xu (Sohu, 2009a) pointed out that the four modernisations accomplished over the past 30 years are actually modernisations based on desire, consumption, material, and affluence. Xu claimed that the Chinese people are spiritually lost, with a strong nihilistic influence, and argued that innovation without tradition is not innovation. The creativity of contemporary Chinese has become a major concern of the intellectuals (Tillman, 2005). They are worried about culturally innovative industries not obtaining enough insight from their traditions. Among all cultural heritages, intangible cultural heritage is the most magical, with the possibility to generate enormous benefits (CQNEWS, 2007). Regarding the key question of How to industrialize traditional culture and create industrial value, Hu Xiaowu, a researcher from the China Academy of Social Sciences Department of Literature Research, commented that the wellspring of innovative industries in China is its traditional culture. The richness of ethnic features and cultural ingredients is embedded in China s civil history of more than 5000 years. In order to create a Chinese style of innovative products and cultural brands, the only way is to explore these cultural deposits properly and recreate Chinese cultural ingredients (China Investment Consulting Net, 2008). From the finance sector, Li Yong, the general manager of the Investment Department of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, said that there are two regrets in the past thirty years of reform policy; both regarding the innovative capability of Chinese financial enterprises (Li, 2008). Innovativeness and creativity has become more and more crucial in the world s economy. They are at the centre of national development strategies (Wen, 2009, Porter, 1990). For China, traditional culture is the key to upgrading its innovative capability. The importance of studying Chinese traditional culture is not just limited to benefits for mainland China s economic and social development. Chinese culture has a great influence in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and countries with a big proportion of Chinese migrants such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In fact, the aftermentioned countries have kept more traditional practices than mainland China as they lack communism s impact. Japan in particular is advanced in many areas of Chinese cultural studies. Japan is an ideal model in many aspects for China s traditional culture reformation in the era of modern civilisation. China needs leaders like Yanagi Soetsu, the founder of Japanese Mingeikan (Folk Crafts) Museum, who stood up to lead Japanese cultural reform by creating the Mingei (Folk Art) Movement in 1926 (Wikipedia, 2009e, Mingeikan Museum, 2009). His representative masterpiece, The Unknown Craftsman (A Japanese Insight into Beauty), expresses the Japanese way of viewing and appreciating arts. He clearly explained the necessity of traditional arts and crafts to the whole society (Shu, 2008). China must stand on such shoulders to gain a better understanding of its own past. From a more practical perspective, the development pattern of contemporary China under communist governance has been quite different from that of the countries mentioned above. 4

14 In order to gain a better understanding of itself, China needs to explore its existence with a decent understanding of the past; discovering what has been lost in the industrialisation process, recreating it, and planting the seeds of the past in its development strategies for the future (Zhuang, 2008). 1.2 Terminology A cluster is a geographically proximate group of interconnected companies and associated institutions in a particular field, linked by commonalities and complementarities (external economies) (Porter, 2008). This is by far the most popular definition of cluster in the management field. What does the word cluster mean literally? An overview of different editions of dictionaries and different fields in cluster research e.g. medicine, computer sciences, music, astrophysics, chemistry, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the concept by examining it from different angles (Wikipedia, 2008). Table 1: Definitions of Cluster Source / Date Definition Commentary Cambridge Dictionaries Online (2008) Cluster Builder (2008) Foldoc Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2008) Cluster is a group of similar things that are close together, sometimes surrounding something. A computer cluster is a group of loosely coupled computers that work together closely so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they are a single computer. Clusters are commonly, but not always, connected through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed to improve speed and/or reliability over that provided by a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or reliability. Cluster is 1. Multiple servers providing the same service. The term may imply resilience to failure and/or some kind of load balancing between the servers. Compare RAIS. 2. An elementary unit of allocation of a disk made Group, similarity, proximity, and relative position to a hub Group, coupled, proximity, unity, connection, local network, acceleration, improve consistency, and costeffectiveness Size, similarity in specialisation, improve resilience, and group 5

15 Harvard Business School Website (2008) Longman (2003) Medical Dictionary, Merriam Webster Online Dictionary (2008) Merriam Webster Online Dictionary (2008) Wikipedia (2008) Wikipedia (2008) Wikipedia (2008) Wiktionary (2008) up of one or more physical blocks. Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, and associated institutions in a particular field that are present in a nation or region. Clusters arise because they increase the productivity with which companies can compete. Cluster is 1 a group of things of the same kind that are very close together. 2 a group of people all in the same place. larger than expected number of cases of disease (as leukaemia) occurring in a particular locality, group of people, or period of time Cluster is a number of similar things that occur together: as a: two or more consecutive consonants or vowels in a segment of speech b: a group of buildings and especially houses built close together on a sizable tract in order to preserve open spaces larger than the individual yard for common recreation c: an aggregation of stars or galaxies that appear close together in the sky and are gravitationally associated d: a larger than expected number of cases of disease (as leukaemia) occurring in a particular locality, group of people, or period of time. In science: cluster is a small group of atoms or molecules In astrophysics: groups of stars which are gravitationally bound In genetics and biotechnology, a cluster may refer to a group of closely gathered genes within a chromosome. In music: cluster means a chord of three or more notes Proximity, connection, specialisation, location, productivity, group, similarity, proximity, and location Size, location, group, and time frame a: size, similarity, location, b: group, proximity, to preserve a larger common space, c: aggregation, proximity, intergravitation, d: size, location, group, and time frame Size and similarity Inter-gravitation Group, proximity, similarity, and location Size, harmony 6

16 According to all the definitions concerning clusters, there are shared characteristics among different forms of clusters. These include a degree of interaction and integration, with units within a cluster sharing a degree of similarity and closeness. Historical clusters have a long, recorded history that can be traced. Cultural clusters can represent or reveal the spirit of the society in a form of social being. The reason why historical cultural clusters are investigated in this thesis was addressed in the previous section. The author s personal involvement with this project is described next. 1.3 Personal Methodology Statement and the Nature of This Project This section identifies the personal statement of the researcher regarding preference of methodology. It includes a discussion of ontology and epistemology, quantitative and qualitative research, Grounded Theory and the use of literature in Grounded Theory Ontology and Epistemology Before outlining the research method selection, it is worthwhile to declare the ontology of the researcher which will be the guiding principle for later research design, data collection, analysis and discussion. Ontology influences the perception of the researcher, and dictates the research style and direction. Discussions on ontology in different academic fields use different terminologies. Even within one branch of a study, e.g. Commerce or Management, ontological orientations differ. Some scholars classify ontology as positivism: interpretive and critical. Each has its own unique perspective on the reason for research, perception of social reality, nature of human beings, understanding about common sense, researching style, importance of values, etc. However, methodology is an emerging discipline, and the understanding of ontology and epistemology in particular are subject areas being continually updated and renewed. This concerns not only about understanding research, but also understanding researchers and how they carry out their research. Ontology and epistemology originate in sociology and philosophy, with great thinkers such as Immanuel Kant, Carl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim contributing a lot to these ideologies. Based on research characteristics and values regarding life and science, methodology became an independent and interdependent subject. Although different schools have different classifications of ontology, generally there are two classes: Nominalism (Interpretivism) and Realism (Positivism). Nominalists (Interpretivists) believe the world does not have a real structure, that structure varies according to individual interpretation and understanding, that there is no absolute truth, but that truth is relevant to each individual s situation and explanation (contextually dependent truth). Claiming the opposite, Realists (Positivists) believe that there are facts and truth, and that such facts and 7

17 truth exist no matter whether people believe in them or not. Consequently, the social world is as hard and concrete as the natural world (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Nominalist researchers focus on individual experiences and feelings. They focus on what people experience and are not interested in independent reality, but in the reality that people perceive or experience. Based on this research and the researcher s understanding of the world, facts exist beyond human experience. If such facts are relatively true, then it will be very hard to research historical events or phenomena. However, it does not necessarily mean that human experience is not important; any social sciences (even hard sciences) involving human experiments, ideas, and analysis require validity checks and cannot achieve 100% objectivity. Social science is about people and the interaction between people or interaction between people and the natural world. Therefore, human experiences remain important and are also the source of understanding human behaviour and mentalities. The facts and truth like the bonds of a human body are hard and provide the structure, while the fresh experiences of individuals are flexible but also real. Therefore, the researcher belongs to realism, but critical realism. From critical realism s point of view, reality is real but only imperfectly and probabilistically apprehensible (Creswell, 2009). Epistemology is another important concept and concerns how do you know you know, whereas ontology is about what is real. Normally ontology dimensions will determine epistemology. For example, Nominalism usually corresponds with Anti-positivism, and Realism with Positivism. The way for Positivists to seek what happens in the social world is to explain and predict by search regularities and causal relationships between constituent elements. Positivists focus on finding truth and normally use hypothesis testing, where a proposition can be verified or failed. Anti-positivists or Interpretivists go against the unity of the world and understand the world through individuals understandings and points of view (Creswell 2003). Anti-positivism is a later paradigm, and one supported by mostly social scientists. The epistemology of critical realism is to find probable truth. According to nature it has its complexity, which means the truth is very rich and it is impossible to unfold all the guiding principles and facts in the cluster. According to the discussion above, both the ontology and the epistemology of the researcher are critical realism. Under this guiding mentality, the researcher has the elasticity to accept hard evidence from the field of work, as well as individuals opinions towards the phenomenon of enduring clusters. 8

18 1.3.2 Qualitative vs. Quantitative Qualitative research is a process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The researcher builds a complex holistic picture, analyses words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting (Creswell, 2009, p.15). Quantitative research is confirmatory and deductive in nature. The objective is to test or verify theory by collecting data, testing it and then reflecting on the confirmation or disconfirmation of the theory by the results. The theory becomes the framework for the entire study; an organising model for the research questions or hypotheses and for the data collection procedure (Creswell, 2009). Quantitative research methodology is more suited for hard science and answering straight forward questions such as What, Who and When, and these closed-ended questions are insufficiently deep for research in social sciences. Quantitative methodology is suitable for testing or verifying theories or explanations. It identifies variables to study through statistical procedures and emphasises validity and reliability. Qualitative research methodology is also more suited for in-depth social research and questions such as How and Why. Therefore, open-ended research questions are more suitable to apply qualitative research methods to emerging rich data like texts or images etc. It allows researcher to collect ideas of participants, and bring personal value into the study and making interpretations of the data. Following on from this, qualitative research is normally favoured by Interpretivists, with quantitative research favoured by Positivists. However, as two research paradigms, depending on the research topic and research questions, the researcher might break the boundary and use a mix research methodology or both methodologies. Jingdezhen porcelain research is a green field and has no hypotheses to test; therefore, it aligns itself within qualitative research or a combination of both. According to the nature of the research topic, Jingdezhen as a cluster study is a green field exploration, therefore, there are not hypotheses to test or verify but rather an open field to explore and understand. Quantitative research therefore is not the best method, as it will not help in gaining a better understanding of this social phenomenon. However, qualitative as a research methodology is more suitable regarding the nature of Jingdezhen porcelain cluster research. Under qualitative research, there are many methods such as historiography, ethnography, Grounded Theory, action research, focus group, narrative research and so on. In order to explore a Chinese traditional cluster such as Jingdezhen historiography, ethnography and Grounded Theory are all suitable. Historiography is an empirical research paradigm using an interpretive or qualitative approach which focuses on a chronology over a substantial period of time, in order to obtain a fuller and richer understanding of a situation or set of circumstances (O'Brien et al., 2004). Historiography originates from history, and is also well developed in the Sociology field. Ethnography was also developed by sociologists and is rooted in cultural anthropology 9

19 (Goulding, 2005). It is focused on an up-close, personal experience, participation, and observation by researchers trained in the art of ethnography. Close field observation is the dominant research method. It works effectively in community research topics, e.g. minor ethnical groups for intangible heritage, where the data could be repeated and cultural issues can last from ancient times until now. Grounded Theory is a powerful research method for collecting and analysing research data. Invented by Glaser & Strauss (1967) (Allan, 2003), Grounded Theory is a qualitative research method that is most close to quantitative paradigms. It has a good reputation of rigorous, reliability and also has a well designed validity check. However, Grounded Theory is usually combined with other research methods, e.g. observations, interviews, focus groups etc. Referring to the researcher s preferred ontology and epistemology, Grounded Theory follows the quantitative research spirit and also aligns itself with critical realism. Although Grounded Theory has a history of less than 50 years, it has two basic classes: the Glaser and the Strauss. Although Glaser and Strauss had worked together and published several book and articles, their approach in Grounded Theory have attracted a number of researchers and followers. It is vital to discuss the two classes and make a choice from them. In next section, Grounded Theory will be discussed in the following topics: firstly, what is Grounded Theory; secondly, what is the difference between different branches in Grounded Theory research; lastly, what is the best approach for Jingdezhen porcelain cluster Grounded Theory as a Methodology Grounded Theory is a general methodology of analysis linked with data collection that uses a systematically applied set of methods to generate an inductive theory about a substantive area (Glaser, 1992, p.16, Douglas, 2003). Grounded Theory is an effective approach to producing righteous research that is simultaneously relevant to business and management theory development and to professional practice (Fernandez, 2004). It is a powerful research method for collecting and analysing research data, and is a qualitative method that follows quantitative traditions. It was invented by Glaser and Strauss in 1967 (Allan, 2003) associated with sociology, nursing and health science (Goulding, 2005). This research method is most suitable for the inductive process of qualitative research. In contrast to hypothesis testing built on underlying theory (which uses a hypothetic deductive approach), Grounded Theory starts with observations, which are made not to test existing theories, but to discover and generate theories that are as close as possible to reality (Rodon and Pastor, 2007). This process involves using multiple stages of data collection and the refinement and interrelationship of categories of information. Two primary characteristics of this design are the constant comparison of data with emerging categories, and theoretical sampling of different groups to maximise the similarities and differences of information. As Jingdezhen porcelain cluster exploration is an inductive research, Grounded Theory is best suited for this research topic. 10

20 Grounded Theory has become a very popular methodology in humanity studies due to its rigorous character. There are two kinds of recent approaches: Glaser s approach and Strauss s approach. Strauss and Glaser are considered to be founders of Grounded Theory; publishing many books and journal articles under the Grounded Theory topic and becoming the authority in this area. Their works including The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research (Glaser and Strauss, 1967); Advances in the Methodology of Grounded Theory: Theoretical Sensitivity (Glaser, 1978); Grounded Theory Analysis: Main Elements (Strauss, 1987), Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques (Strauss and Corbin, 1990); Emergence vs Forcing: Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis (Glaser, 1992). Although Glaser and Strauss are colleagues who have published together and hold the same views towards key elements like theoretical sampling and constant comparison, their emphasis and approaches in Grounded Theory have become more and more different. Strauss insisted on refining the coding technique by incorporating more analytical techniques and giving the researcher room in being more active. Glaser, however, argued that it was more important to take a passive stance free from preconceptions, trusting that theory will emerge (Rodon and Pastor, 2007). Regardless, the two approaches are not conflicting as researchers can be more creative in role playing while believing the emergence of theory will still take place. It is unnecessary to choose between either one; but rather combine their strengths in research design as explained later in Chapter Three The Use of Literature in Grounded Theory In Grounded Theory, the function of literature is not to guide and to direct the study, nor is it to decide the research questions and hypotheses; rather, it becomes an aid once patterns or categories have been identified. The intention is not to exhaustively review literature prior to the research in many studies, but it is examined, integrated, and presented at the end of the study and becomes a basis for comparing and contrasting findings of the qualitative study. In opposite, the emerging theory from Grounded Theory should direct the researcher to appropriate extant theories and literature that are relevant to the emerging, grounded data. However, a common misconception from Glaser and Strauss s earlier work is to enter the research field regardless of any theory or associated literature relating to the phenomenon, and expect the theory to emerge purely from data (Goulding, 2005). Researchers actually enter the field with a handful of theoretical concepts and research experiences; especially new researchers who have little research experience and limited knowledge in academic theories and concepts. Regarding the training and experience of the researcher of this project, it is necessary to include background literature prior to conducting data collection and analysis. However, the background literature is only part of preparation for Grounded Theory. From The Discovery of Grounded Theory, Glaser and Strauss (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) stated that the core categories can emerge from the sociologist s mind from his previous readings, life experiences, research and scholarship, and no one can remove 11

21 all the theories he or she knows before conducting the research, but literature reviews play a different role throughout the research process. Thus, the key is balancing prior knowledge while keeping a fresh and open mind for new theory to generate. Therefore, the best timing for reviewing literature is before data sampling and after theory has emerged. Glaser commented there is a need not to review any of the literature in the substantive area under study, but it is important to read from the outset of the research, but in unrelated fields (Glaser, 1992, p.32). Later in Chapter Two, there will be a literature review on the broad background of this research in term of philosophy, sociology and economics. These are the environments where clusters exist, and through the lenses of great philosophers, sociologist and economists, traditional clusters can be better understood. 1.4 Research Venue: Why Jingdezhen? Section 1.1 discussed the rise of traditional cultural research in China. The Jingdezhen porcelain cluster belongs to the traditional cultural art industry and it is the only city in China that survived for hundreds of years by porcelain only. Even now, porcelain remains the most important industry and delight of Jingdezhen. Revenue from porcelain exporting takes the dominant position in contribution to the region s GDP. It has always provided employment to the towns and cities around it. The economic condition of the city relies heavily on the performance of their porcelain industries. On the UNESCO Culture Sector of intangible heritage, there is a list of Chinese representative intangible heritage (UNESCO, 2009a). Compared to the arts on this list, porcelain in Jingdezhen is relatively big and closely linked with local economy. The procedure of work traditionally involved 72 steps which is complicated in technique and has very strict divisions of labour. Moreover, Jingdezhen s porcelain industry had enormous influence during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Antiques of Jingdezhen porcelain were produced for the Royal family during that period of time, and are considered highly valuable on the market. When counting all the famous crafts with China s cities, no other surviving craft is as big as Jingdezhen porcelain and easily identified in the business activities of its city. Jingdezhen is not distinct in the area of traditional art; it is also the best place of conducting cluster research. Traditional clusters over 2000 years are limited around the world. The influence that Jingdezhen porcelain had hundred years ago is significant; that is why China is called china. The world got to know China through its porcelain masterpieces. China is the sound of Chang-Nan, the former name of Jingdezhen. As a centre of porcelain manufacture, Jingdezhen is not only old, but remains very active even today. Because Jingdezhen is intricately linked with its porcelain industry, it is relatively easy to track its path with formal government records and official figures. Jingdezhen is not only old, but also mature in terms of being a complete or whole cluster, in terms of geographical location, city construction, facilities, and structure of relationships between industries and heritage in techniques. Therefore, Jingdezhen porcelain is the most suitable industry to conduct research. Stoerring (2003) stated that the emergence of a cluster is a very long process, requiring a lot of patience, which may be a problem for policy makers whose performance is evaluated 12

22 every four years during elections. Therefore, creating a new cluster may require a clusterpreneur ; a person with a vision who acts as an engine for the process. However, the development of the porcelain cluster in Jingdezhen did not rely on either the government or a clusterpreneur. Throughout its long history, no single government or person directed its development pattern, although they obviously pushed it in certain directions. 1.5 Chapter Summary Organisation of the Thesis This chapter introduces the nature of the study, by answering how recent history led to calls for traditional culture restoration in China, and the importance of traditional culture in the development of Chinese industrialisation and Chinese Economy. The definitions of the cluster concept from a variety of academic fields were discussed under the terminology chapter. A brief discussion of the researcher s methodology from ontology, epistemology to research methodology that guides the theoretical construction of this research project is included. Finally the research venue, Jingdezhen, was justified. This thesis has five chapters, including an introduction and conclusion. Chapter One discusses the purpose of cluster research in traditional Chinese industries, and how this research will be carried out. Chapter Two will present the background literature of Chinese traditional culture, which provides the background understanding of philosophies influencing Chinese culture and tradition within China and from overseas. Moreover, a brief history of Jingdezhen will be illustrated as well. Chapter Three presents a very important part of this research, by designing the entire procedure of the research process. The preferred research approach is discussed again in Chapter Three. Every research method employed is justified and discussed how to combine them into Grounded Theory. The most important part of research design is to plan the whole process of conducting Grounded Theory according to the nature of Jingdezhen porcelain industry. Chapter Four is the fieldwork and coding. There is a trial of coding in the first Beijing interview. After reviewing the results of the trial, the coding method is re-arranged with detailed coding and memos included in the Appendices. Chapter five discusses the emergence of theory with discussion on the relevant field of research; mainly cluster research. Conclusions are drawn in Chapter Six discussing the contributions, limitations and future research potential of this project. 13

23 CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND LITERATURE REVIEW The reasons for including background literature were discussed in 1.3.4: The Use of Literature in Grounded Theory. Glaser argued there is a need to not review any of the literature in the substantive area under study but it is important to read from the outset of the research, but in unrelated field (Glaser, 1992, p.32). This review of background literature is to discuss and frame the background of Chinese traditional cultural clusters which does not have direct relevance to the main research project, and is not conflicting with the principles of Glaser and Strauss in terms of using substantive literature. Background literature is not extant literature, which is literature from relevant academic fields; in this case, cluster research. Professor Joseph R. Levenson commented that the dividing tension among Chinese contemporary intellectuals was due to the conflict between Western values and China s national history (Levenson, 1958). The culture reconstruction in China should be based on appropriate understanding of Western and Chinese cultures. During the past thirty years under the Reform policy, Chinese scholars became more rigorous to face the reality of Western influence in Chinese society, which remains heavily based on its traditional culture. Comparative Studies in West-Sino comparisons has becoming more and more popular (Mou, 2003, Yu and Shen, 2004, Yu and He, 2005). Because of the complexity and enormous variety between all the philosophical streams, it is impossible to conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis of Sino-Western philosophies here. Hence, in the background literature section, there will be several pairs of comparative analysis in four main themes: Traditional Chinese Thoughts, Western Philosophy in China, Western Classic Economics, and The History of Jingdezhen. In 2.1, there are two main traditional Chinese thoughts included: Taoism and Confucianism. After a brief historical introduction, the comparison between these two great Chinese thoughts will be in the area of key philosophies, modern development, influences in traditional culture, and impact on business. Later, three very important sociologists are introduced; Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber. Their contribution to sociology and economics is notable. Karl Marx provides the social construction of China, while the other two explain social phenomena and raise theories from different angles. Between the three of them, a social reality closer to completeness can be illustrated. In Section 2.3, two giants in economics are discussed: Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall. They provide guidance in understanding economic and business activities. Finally, the last section provides a brief history of Jingdezhen. 2.1 Traditional Chinese Thought There are three pillars of traditional Chinese thought: Taoism (Daoism), Confucianism, and Buddhism (Chan, 2007). Taoism and Confucianism are simultaneously contradictory and complementary. The origins of Taoism and Confucianism both lie in 6 th century BC, during the Zhou dynasty. They were established by the two most influential philosophers in Chinese history, Lao Zi (also known as Lao Tzu and Master Lao) and Kong Zi (also known as 14

24 Confucius and Master Kong). The third traditional Chinese thought, Buddhism, originated from India. The understanding and development of Buddhism in India and subsequently in China are both different and alike. There is a big stream of religious research focused in Buddhism in China. However, some scholars consider only Taoism and Confucianism to be rooted in China. Therefore, there should be two pillars, rather than three pillars, of traditional Chinese thought. Weber considered Confucianism and Taoism as the foundations of Chinese culture (Bennion, 1992). Taoism may be considered as both a philosophy and a religion. In order to avoid possible confusion, it should be noted that Taoism is called Daojia or Daojiao in Chinese. Daojia literally means the school of Dao or philosophical Taoism. Daojiao means the religion of Dao or religious Taoism (Kirkland, 2004). Confucianism equals Rujia in Chinese. Rujia means the school of Ru (another name for Confucius). In general understanding, Taoism is classified as a religion more than a stream of philosophy, and Taoism as a religion has actually had greater influence on society. It is developed based on Daojia, but has a more complete religious system. However, although Buddhism had a significant impact on the development of Chinese tradition and philosophies, its role is peripheral to this research and therefore it will not be described further The Cornerstones of Confucianism and Taoism Lao Zi lived during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in 6 th Century B.C. As a contemporary of Confucius, there is considerable debate about the details of his life (Bai and Chen, 2002). His given name was Erh, and his official name Tan, according to Sima Qian s Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) (Kaltenmark, 1969). During his time, the Hundred Schools of Thought blossomed, and the great philosophers were honoured as zi (or tzu), meaning master. Lao Zi started thinking about deep philosophical questions from a very young age. Between the age of 10 and 13, he asked his private teacher two questions: If God has the ability to change and create, why not create people that obey (all the time)? ; and If the king could not govern (the country), why should God not govern it instead? (Guoxue, 2009). When he became 13, his teacher said to Lao Zi s father that he had nothing more to teach Lao Zi as he was too smart. Lao Zi then moved to the capital city Zhoudu, and studied as much as he could. The areas he covered included Taixue (Imperial Study), Astrology, Geography, Ethics, Shijing (the Book of Odes or Poetry), Shujing (the Classic of History), Liji (the Classic of Rites), Yijing (I Ching or the Classic of Changes), Yuejing (the Classic of Music), and much more. After a few years of hard work, he became the court archivist of the Zhou Dynasty, serving the kings. When he saw the Zhou Dynasty shrink, he left his position, ready for seclusion. Just before his seclusion, he wrote Dao De Jing (also known as Tao-te-ching or Lao Zi). Dao De Jing has 5000 characters, with 81 verses. It has two parts: Dao (Tao) with 37 verses and De (Te) with 44 verses. The first part, Dao, literally means way or truth. Dao is the ontological foundation of Taoism. De means virtue, referring to how people should behave in society. Confucius (Kong Zi or K ung Chi iu) was the founder of Confucianism. He was born in 551 B.C. and died in 479 B.C., living during the same era as Lao Zi. Confucius was the offspring 15

25 of aristocrats of the Shang Dynasty. After the Shang were ruined, about 500 years before his birth, his ancestor was appointed to the hereditary position of head priest at the altar for Shang rites (Guoxue, 2009). Although Confucius descended from a noble family, he experienced a very tough life. His mother was his father s third wife; they got married when his father turned sixty-six, and he died when Confucius was only three years old. He and his mother moved out with his ill elder brother, who was born by the second wife, in order to avoid persecution from the first wife (who bore nine daughters but no sons). Confucius s mother, who was strongly committed to providing him the best education possible, died when he was a young adult. Although Confucius has a very poor and tough life, he did not give up studying. When he was 15 years old, he committed to the pursuit of learning. A famous quote from The Analects of Confucius, Shuer (Chapter Seven), was: When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them. (Legge, 2004). From the age of 30, Confucius started to receive students, and informally established the first private school in China, while all other schools belonged to the emperor. He was considered an educator, ethicist, and ideologist. During his lifetime, he had three thousand students in total; seventy-two students among them were considered his disciples. Confucius re-edited six ancient classics, which became the Liushu (Six Books), as his teaching materials. These six books became compulsory materials for formal education in China. They are the Shujing, Shijing, Yijing, Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals), Liji, and Yuejing (Kohn, 2004). Confucius held a great desire to serve as a politician; however, his political career was replete with difficulty and rejection. His uneven political career with negative experiences did not prevent Confucianism from becoming the dominant philosophy of imperial governance for the next two thousand years, until the 1900s. The canon of Confucianism, unlike Taoism, was not written by Confucius, but his disciples. The Analects of Confucius (Lunyu) were written in the early Warring States Period, and consists of 20 chapters and 486 verses. The verses in The Analects are in general very concise, covering a variety of topics based on the interaction between Confucius and his students. After his death, The Analects were listed as the first book among the Four Books (sishu); they constitute a canon that every intellectual had to learn by heart. Lao Zi and Confucius lived during the same historical period, although Lao Zi was born a bit earlier than Confucius. According to historical records, they encountered each other many times. The most reliable source, Sima Qian s Records of the Grand Historian, relates two particular meetings. After one, Confucius described Lao Zi: I know a bird can fly; I know a fish can swim; I know animals can run. Creatures that run can be caught in nets; those that swim can be caught in wicker traps; those that fly can be hit by arrows. But the dragon is beyond my knowledge; it ascends into heaven on the clouds and the wind. Today I have seen Lao Tzu and he is like the dragon! (Kaltenmark, 1969, p.8). Other than that, Zhuang Zi (The Writings of Chuang Tzu), Liji (Classic of Rites), Kongzijiayu (Family Dialogue of Confucius), Hanshiwaizhuan (companion stories to Shijing [The Odes of Poetry] by Han), and lüshichunqiu (Encyclopaedia by Lv) have more records (Bai and Chen, 2002). The first meeting between Lao Zi and Confucius took place when the latter was aged 17. They talked 16

26 about the contexts of rites according to Liji (Classic of Rites). When Confucius was middle aged, the focus of their conversations was the philosophy of life. They may have discussed Shijing, Shujing, and Yijing, according to Zhuang Zi. The last recorded meeting, cited in Zeng Ziwen (Questions of Zeng Zi), occurred when Confucius was fifty-seven years old. The meetings between Lao Zi and Confucius are very important for scholars in the field of Chinese traditional thought, especially their later conversations over the philosophy of life. Lao Zi and Confucius had many things in common: They were both heirs of ancient Chinese tradition; they agreed that during their time, there was not Dao; and they had a strong historical mission accumulated from the crises of age and culture. However, they held different attitudes and opinions towards the crises. Feng Youlan pointed out that the roots of Taoism and Confucianism are like the two ends of a bar (Bai and Chen, 2002): They are far apart, even opposed to each other, but still on the same bar The Main Thoughts of Confucius and Lao Zi Kirkland stated: To begin explaining Taoism as it truly was, in terms of the social and historical facts of Chinese history and culture, we need to learn to see that the holistic vision of Sung T ai-tsung goes back through the historical realities and ultimately back to the Taote-ching. Such is the enduring heritage of Taoism (Kirkland, 2004, p.217). The developments of Taoism and Confucianism have undergone many phases. There are tens of thousands of written commentaries, and even more books generated by the inspiration of Daodejing and The Analects. Numerous distinct followers of Taoism and Confucianism have carried the thoughts to new levels. In this section, the main thoughts of both philosophies will be presented, along with a discussion of their similarities and differences. As the ontological foundation of Taoism, Dao appears seventy-two times in Daodejing. In Daodejing, the first chapter begins with: The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao: The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth: Existence is the mother of all things (Shi, 1988, p.23). Dao here means more than way or truth, but the origin of all living creatures that could not be named and known by ordinary human senses. Non-existence (or wu) does not mean that Dao is unreal; rather, that it does not exist in within the perceptual capacity of human senses. In Chapter 40 of Daodejing, it says: All things in the Universe come from existence, and existence from non-existence (Shi, 1988, p.41). Therefore, according to Taoism, nonexistence actually exists. The meanings of Dao are multiple: it is not just the origin of the Universe and the laws that govern the physical world, but also the highest standard of virtue in our daily lives and the source of deepest knowledge and wisdom. Moreover, it represents the highest level of personal cultivation, the ideal status of social and political life (Bai and Chen, 2002). The way to reach Dao is through Wuwei (nonaction) and Ziran (naturalness). Ziran, a third fundamental concept in Taoism, is simultaneously an attitude, a set of values, a condition, and an effect, systemically linking humanity with nature. Ziran complements Wuwei, as Wuwei does not exclude any human activities, but spontaneously reacts according to naturalness and excludes behaviours that go against Ziran. Chapter 3 of Daodejing states: 17

27 He governs by nonaction; consequently there is nothing un-governed (Shi, 1988, p.25). The principles in Taoism are useful not only in personal cultivation, but also in politics, where kings or statesmen follow Ziran and commit to Dao. There are five fundamental principles in Confucian ethics: Ren, Li, Yi, Zhi, and Xin. Ren is the core of Confucian thought. It is also the most important intellectual contribution of Confucius. Ren means benevolence, man to manness, perfect virtue, human heartedness, and humanity (Liu, 1998, p.17). Ren is the intrinsic character of being human, and its extrinsic appearance is love (Wang and Yang, 2006, Liu, 1998). The love in Ren requires profound wisdom and sound judgment. The Analects state: Confucius said: Only the man of jen knows how to love and how to hate people (Liu, 1998, p.18) it is associated with principles; e.g. one should hate immoral or evil actions so that the doers may be forced to repent and become better men. The kind of love that Confucius prompted is not selfish love, but love towards humankind. Li means etiquette or propriety. Li and Ren are like the two sides of a coin. If Ren is the intrinsic principle of personal cultivation, Li is the proper way or channel of accomplishing Ren. Meng Zi said Li is the door. Without the behaviour-restricting framework of Li, there is no way of Cheng Ren (accomplishing Ren). The model sage according to Confucius ideology exhibits the combined characteristics of intrinsic Ren and extrinsic Li. Li contains several types of moral and ethical responsibilities and duties. It forms consistent behavioural models within relationships as a concrete behavioural criterion (Tang and Cao, 2000). The ultimate purpose of Li is to accomplish harmony in society. Complementing the two core concepts of Ren and Li are three related principles. Yi is another word for ethics in Chinese. It contains the meaning of justice, fairness, and righteousness. Yi is the standard for distinguishing between good and evil; thus, it is the judge of human behaviour. Yi is the standard that helps oneself to first practice goodness and suppress evil inclinations, and then to love others and accept social responsibilities. Yi could be a life goal of accomplishing justice in society. From Confucian s point of view, Yi arises from the inherent moral concepts held by individuals, rather than from rules or ethics imposed from outside. Zhi means intelligence. It contains knowledge and rationality. However, in Confucianism it means moral or ethical knowledge and rationality. If Yi is the standard of distinguishing between good and evil, then Zhi is the ability to make such judgments. The function of Zhi is also to discover more about one s moral reality and make improvements to achieve personal cultivation. Xin is the fundamental moral criterion of Confucianism. It means honesty, authenticity, and trueness to some concepts, principles, and words. It is based on agreement of the realities in the universe that people should act according to their beliefs and be honest with one another. Xin is the key for handling relationships in family, in business, and in society. Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, and Xin are the five fundamental criteria of feudal society, and are collectively called Wuchang. In addition to Wuchang, there is Wulun, which governs relationships in a feudal society. Wulun contains five relationships: ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, and friend and friend. 18

28 Wulun developed from Sangang, which contains only the first three pairs of relationships (Tang and Cao, 2000). Confucianism and Taoism share the belief that if individuals pursue personal cultivation and morality, the society will be transformed (Kirkland, 2004). However, there are also significant differences. When comparing the two, Taoism heavily stresses personal development but is less concerned with the function of individuals in society. Taoist ethics are more abstract and dynamic; Confucianism is more specific and has a clearer structure. Taoism, as a religion, has broader influences in China than a stream of philosophy would. In Chinese tradition, there are two forms of authority: earthly and spiritual. In feudal society for over two thousand years, Taoists assisted in managing the heavenly mandate for the emperor, while Confucians helped in creating and maintaining social order How These Two Philosophies Influence Traditional Arts and Culture From the basic concepts of Confucianism and Taoism, Confucianism did not explore beyond human society, and merely mentions heaven and God. Taoism, on the other hand, has a major concentration on Dao, where Dao represents the source and origin of the world. Confucianism focuses on the physical and mental reality of human experiences, while Taoism focuses on spiritual reality. Because of the invisibility of the spiritual world, Taoism provides greater room for exploration and imagination. The ensuing curiosity and desire to understand the spiritual world are often carried out and satisfied in artistic forms. Art in nature is mainly for spiritual pleasure, but it is carried out in different forms that relate to people s daily lives. Concepts arising from Confucianism and Taoism should influence traditional arts from different angles. The following section explores how these two philosophies have impacted Chinese traditional arts. The wisdom and culture derived from Taoism are the nutrition for traditional artists. They personally experienced cultivation through Taoism, and were influenced by legends created throughout the development of Taoism. From these inspirations, they created enormous masterpieces, filled with novelty and fresh dynamics. Firstly, Taoism had a significant impact on traditional literature. During the development of the Taoist religion, tens of thousands of legendary characters were created; they have their positions in heaven, distinguishing characteristics, and unique life stories. They became the raw material for artists to develop fictional stories. The most famous ones written based on Taoist legends include: Xiyouji (Journey to the West), Fengshenyanyi (The Investiture of the Gods or the Creation of the Gods), and Liaozhaizhiyi (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio). Other traditional literature, such as Hongloumeng (Dream of the Red Chamber) and Jinpingmei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), were also written under influence of the Taoism philosophy. Second, Taoism had great influence in poetry and the fine arts. One stream of poems about heaven is called Xianyoushi (Poems of Heavenly Journey); a key representative is Li Bai, one of the greatest poets in China s history. Fine artists like Gu Kaizhi, Wu Daozi, and Wu Zongyuan were good at painting motifs from Taoism. Painting styles like Shanshui and many others were 19

29 frequently inspired by Taoist imagery and motifs. The symbolism technique in Chinese landscape painting has strong linkages with the symbolism of Taoism (Wikipedia, 2009d). Taoism also influenced traditional music, sculpture, mural painting, calligraphy, gardening, architecture, dance, drama, porcelain painting etc. (Zhan, 2005, China's Best Arts & Crafts, 1981). It does not just provide the content and framework for the arts; it impacts nearly every aspect of artistic production. Most importantly, Taoism provides the ontological foundation for artists, affording them a great canvas on which to exercise their imagination. The aesthetics under Taoism are embedded in the national aesthetics of the Chinese people, shared by every Chinese person in general (Xu, 1994a). By comparison, the influence of Confucianism impacted society in very different ways. Confucianism itself did not provide enough room for imagination and inspiration for artists. It was the dominant philosophy for governance and social ethical construction. Confucianism itself is part of Chinese culture, which evolved continuously in order to fit the historical and social conditions. There are three major growth epochs of Confucianism. From Confucius (Spring and Autumn Period) to the end of the Later Han Dynasty, is the first period (approximately 520 BC to 220 AD). From the Song Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty (approximately 960 to 1919) is the second period, during which Neo-Confucianism arose and developed. The third period, commencing in 1919 and continuing today, introduced New Confucianism, based on critical reflection on the mature theoretical framework of Neo- Confucianism developed in the Song Dynasty (Yao, 2000). In the Hundred Schools of Thought period, during Confucius lifetime, the emperor sought the most suitable philosophy among the hundred schools, and Confucianism stood out as it satisfied both the centralisation of imperial authority and the kinship nature of normal society. Confucianism became the only official philosophy and was elevated to a very high status, above all the other schools. Later, during the Han Dynasty, a Confucian named Dong Zhongshu developed Confucianism along three dimensions: hermeneutics, religion, and politics (Xu, 1994b), writing many expository books and prompting masterpieces to ensure the dominant position of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many poets including Han Yu, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, and Liu Zhongyuan were involved in the reformation of Confucianism. At that time, there was a trend of uniting Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, while Confucianism was not as popular as before. A stream of reformers and intellectual politicians started the Classics Movement, producing a huge amount of literature, paintings, and poetry aligned with Confucian philosophy. In the Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism emerged through three distinct contributors, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, and Zhu Xi. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi established Luoxue (The Study of Luo or Luo Neo-Confucianism), while Zhu Xi developed Minxue (The Study of Min or Min Neo Confucianism) based on Luoxue. Minxue is the highest accomplishment in the development of Luoxue in many aspects; first, Zhu Xi made and rearranged the Neo-Confucianist canon; second, he established the Dao tradition in Neo-Confucianism; and third, he constructed the 20

30 system of Neo-Confucianism. Following the end of the last imperial dynasty, in 1919, Confucianism commenced another renaissance, with further developments continuing today How These Two Philosophies Influence Business Practices During the 6 th century B.C., Lao Zi and Confucius had already discussed business phenomena, as recorded in their canons (Yu and Cheng, 2007). Their opinions towards the business world were considered insightful and full of wisdom. Although Confucius and Lao Zi themselves may not have personally opposed business, their followers depressed the status of businessmen at the earliest stages of the development of both Confucianism and Taoism. As the leading traditional philosophies, Confucianism and Taoism influenced and governed the daily practices of Chinese society. They also inevitably influenced people in the business world. Nowadays, business ethics and sustainability are frequently discussed. Topics such as What could Chinese traditional culture provide to the world? have been raised with the purpose of seeking solutions to global problems, such as the effects of over-industrialisation and practices of classic economic theories (Xu, 1994a). For example, Hill recently explored the religious roots of East Asian management styles and considered both Confucianism and Taoism as strong influences (Hill, 2007). The core of Taoism is about Dao, which is about nature and the universe. Therefore, the first relationship to deal with in Taoism is the relationship between individuals and nature (and the cosmos). It suggests human beings should act according to the laws of nature, supporting the concept of sustainability (Li, 2007). Hodgkinson believes that the problems of the world, physically and socially, are due to humanity s restlessness (Hodgkinson, 2008, p.66). People are wearing themselves out. Thus, he initiated the Do Less campaign to promote his idea. The philosophy behind it is based on Taoism, especially the concept of Wu Wei (meaning non-action or without action). He pointed out that Do Less will benefit both the planet and people s souls, fulfilling a dual sustainability function. Apart from sustainability, Taoism also impacts on managerial behaviours, such as consensus decision-making, moderation, conflict avoidance, and acceptance of change (Hill, 2007), according to the stream of literature concerning the relationship between Taoism and business. Later Taoist developments emphasise inner-worldly asceticism (Yu and Yin, 2004). Paralleling Protestant ethics, Taoism promotes the virtues of diligence and frugality, which help businessmen accumulate wealth. It also goes against unethical practices in business. Taoism discourages rivalry, placing both nature and social harmony above personal gain (Yu and Shen, 2004). According to teachings from Daodejing, people should accept their social responsibilities and take care of the poor and the weak as best they can (Zhang, 2008). The Dao in Taoism is equivalent to the invisible hand of Adam Smith. The system described in Taoism is an open system, just like a free economy, and Taoism could therefore provide a lot of inspiration for a free economy (Xiong, 2004). As discussed when concerning the influences of Taoism in traditional culture, Taoism has also had the ability of enhancing the 21

31 innovative capacity of businessmen. In contrast to Confucianism, Taoism promotes the spirit of uniqueness and freedom (Bai and Chen, 2002). The framework of social ethics is quite mature in Confucianism. As a governmental tool, Confucian ethics have been critically reviewed and refined on many occasions to suit the interests of the emperor and society. Although Taoism also mentions ethics, it is Confucian ethics that dominated interpersonal relationships in ancient China. The ethical economic ideology of Confucianism was embedded in feudal economic theories and practices (Tang and Cao, 2000). However, the study of Confucianism in the business arena did not become popular until the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the economies of Japan, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong boomed (Yu and Yin, 2004, Wang and Yang, 2006). Yu published several papers in the area of Confucian ethics and the spirit of businessmen as a historian (Yu and Shen, 2004, Yu and Cheng, 2007). By analysing records of businessmen s behaviours in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he recognised many Confucian virtues in business practices. As in Taoism, diligence and frugality are part of Confucian business ethics. Authenticity and honesty also feature on the list of Confucian ethics. Later, Jiadao (meaning the way of doing business) emerged. It is equivalent to the process of rationalisation by Max Weber (Yu and Shen, 2004). Reputation and virtue became the two most important values under the influence of Jiadao. The status of businessmen rose significantly, and business won respect from the general public. Under the influence of Jiadao, not only should business owners establish their reputation through their virtuous practices, but so should their employees. This business ethic also influenced the employment regulations at that time. Moreover, the guiding principle of doing business in China developed: large turnover with small margins. This remains the governing marketing strategy used by most Chinese businesses nowadays. In a Confucian-dominated society, relationship development is the key to business success (Tang and Cao, 2000, Hill, 2007). The stream of business research in relationship development, or guanxi, derives from Confucianism (Duo, 2005, Siu, 2003). The ethics inherent in relationships such as Wulun control the pattern and business phenomena of family businesses in East Asian countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and China. Differing from Taoism, Confucianism encourages both cooperation and competition. It also advocated division of labour (Wang and Yang, 2006), far earlier than did Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall Section Summary Many concepts from Confucianism and Taoism, aside from those mentioned above, are beneficial to both society and business. There is substantial potential for empirical explorations examining philosophical impacts on Chinese business. Such research will not only help explain historical economic phenomena and business behaviours, but will also provide guidance concerning future social and economic developments in China, where corruption remains a big problem. 22

32 This section introduces the originators of Confucianism and Taoism, and compares the impact of these two philosophies in the area of traditional culture and business. After a broad discussion, it arrives at the understanding that it is not possible to have a genuine understanding about China without sensing the traditional thoughts behind it, especially Taoism and Confucianism. These two philosophies (along with the influence of Buddhism) provide the answers for what is existing, how do you know you know, what is right and what is wrong the fundamental ontological, epistemological, and ethical questions. They have been passed on from generation to generation for over two thousand years, and became an indivisible characteristic of being Chinese. They could be slightly adjusted, modified gradually, but trying to go against them radically creates crisis. If nature is something we should not go against, as Taoism emphasises, radical revolution in ideology is also not sustainable. In the section below, streams of Western philosophies that impact the contemporary development of philosophy in China will be discussed. 2.2 Western Sociologists and their Influences in China This section will address three questions: What are the Western philosophies that impact the contemporary development of China; how do they impact China; and what are the consequences? This set of questions follows the belief that all societies share a certain degree of similarity in addition to featuring their own unique characteristics. Eastern philosophies and Western philosophies are not competing against each other, but complementing each other. In the modern development of China, Western philosophies have played very important roles in China. Communism, based on Karl Marx s theory, laid the political structure in China. Later, the Chinese extended this base by adding Weber s sociological theory (Chen, 1987). Several other sociologists were influential during the modern era, with Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber ranking above all others (Giddens, 1971). These three figures have also strongly influenced sociological paradigms in research methodology (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Although they discussed economics issues such as capitalism and division of labour, their influences also dominated social-political aspects, thus setting them apart from the classical economists that will be covered in a later chapter. The remainder of this section will focus on the main theories of the three top sociologists, and their application and influence in China The Sociologists: Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber Marx, Durkheim, and Weber had very distinctive approaches to sociology that are not quite complementary. Marx made distinctive contributions to the sociology of radical change. The two paradigms under radical change are the radical humanist paradigm and radical structuralist paradigm, which reflect the ideologies of the young Marx and the mature Marx, according to the works he produced during those two periods of his life (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Compared to Marx, Durkheim and Weber shared more ideas, both being more or less influenced by German idealism (where Weber remained, but from which Durkheim tried to depart). Durkheim represented the functionalist paradigm, which is more objective than 23

33 German idealism, while Weber represented the interpretive paradigm, which is less objective than the functionalist paradigm. Both Durkheim and Weber belong to the sociology of regulation, opposed to Marx in many ways (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Contemporary China was influenced heavily by Marxism in nearly all aspects. However, the elites increasingly introduced Durkheim and Weber for the purpose of better understanding Chinese society. A more holistic exploration of sociology beyond Marx is necessary in order to have a more balanced view of the social and economical phenomenon of China Karl Marx Marx was born in 1818 and died in From The Writings of the Young Marx on Philosophy and Society, some characters of young Marx could be portrayed. On page 39, he wrote: Rather, man s nature makes it possible for him to reach his fulfilment only by working for the perfection and welfare of his society (Giddens, 1971). Philosophically, Marx was first fascinated by Kant and Fichte, and then attracted by Hegel as a university student. He believed Hegel could somehow answer his theoretical questions, e.g. our own perfection. However, he is not a blindly follower nor a loyal fan of Hegel, especially the latter s influence of Feuerbach s The Essence of Christianity. It is clearly that Marx was seeking his own thought through the philosophers belonging to German idealism. In his early work, like Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, and the Manuscripts, he gradually formed and conceptualised his ideas toward the state, democracy, revolutionary, political economy, historical materialism, and early conception of communism. Due to this, he was part of Young Hegelians. The breaking point between young and mature Marx is in the year 1844, though The German Ideology. In this book, Marx stated the tenets of historical materialism. From then, he shifted his focus to theoretical exploration and empirical application of his latter work. They achieved self-clarification through The German Ideology, which is regarded as the dividing piece of work of young and mature Marx. Class is the fundamental concept in mature Marx s work. In Marx s conception, classes are not made of multiple income groups or functional groups; in bourgeois society, they are simplified and universalised. Gradually, two great classes emerged with conflicting relations: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In Marx s work, classes, especially conflicting interests between classes, determine the relations of economical production and social structure; moreover, it shapes the political dynamism. Marx, as a political economist, also considered economics and politics to be closely related. In bourgeois society, the bourgeoisie dominants not only property, but also has significant power in the legal system and politics. The political and legal systems which serve the bourgeoisie class have created disadvantages for the proletariat class. The second important concept of mature Marx is capitalism. Marx defined Capitalism as a system of commodity production (Giddens, 1971). In the three volumes of Capital, Marx s economic theories are explained fully. First, he states the theory of surplus value by analysing and clarifying relationships between value and surplus value, surplus value and profit, and surplus value and actual price. He concluded that commodities sell at their prices of production rather than value. Upon the theory of surplus value, Marx 24

34 established the theory of capitalism development. In chapter 5, volume 3 of Capital, Marx states that the aim of capital is not to minister to certain wants, but to produce profit (Marx, 2008). Thus, capitalism is based upon profit-seeking through competition. Profit is the driver of improvement in nearly all aspects, by providing better and cheaper products and services. Marx also mentioned periodic crises would be encountered in capitalism, which not represented a break-down of the system, but conflict between overproduction and profitability. The Critique of the Gotha Program and The Communist Manifesto are two other influential books. Marx recognised the transcendence of capitalism and made sound considerations and predictions upon the historical development of capitalism about bourgeois society. There are two general misconceptions about Marx: Marx conceives the resolution of capitalism after a significant disaster which the system could be recovered, and the universal application of his historical materialism and political economic theories. Marx did not specifically predict a final crisis that could destroy capitalism, nor did he consider historical materialism could be applied in any country (Yu and Yin, 2004). He made himself apart from Marxism due to these reasons Émile Durkheim Comparing to Marx and Weber, Durkheim ( ) did not lead a career involving as much politics. All his works are entirely academic in character, which have a more coherent theoretical outlook. Durkheim laid the foundation for Sociology in France by providing the institutional context and the theories and methods in this emerging science, upon which Auguste Comte gave its name and an ambitious prospectus. His influences are not limited to the field of sociology, but also reach anthropology and history. The structuralism of French anthropological school owes a great deal to the work of Durkheim and his followers (Thompson, 1982). Durkheim, the same as Marx, is a Jewish, and was born in Epinal near the German border. During his time, France awakened to advocate sciences and secular republican principles in order to compete with Germany. Young Durkheim was well equipped for the emerging sociology, including circumstances of his life and character of his education. As a student, he had set his life s goal in studying the relationship of individualism and socialism, which is sociology. After training in systematic empirical research and the comparative methods and holding a mission towards sociology, Durkheim was sent to Germany to report on the social sciences in Germany and making recommendations for French education. To Durkheim, Marxism was a symptom of the troubled state of society (Thompson, 1982). However, in some aspects, people believed they share a degree of similarity especial towards structuralism and class conflict (Thompson, 1982). The majority of his early writings were involved with contemporary German social thinkers. The Division of Labour is one of the representing writing of Durkheim s early works, which is highly polemical. As he described the book: This book is above all an attempt to treat the facts of moral life according to the method of the positive sciences (Giddens, 1971, p.72). 25

35 Durkheim s sociology is built up with notions developed in The Division of Labour; it could be proved by The Rules of Sociological Method (1895) and Suicide (1897). The Rules (Short for The Rules of Sociological Method ) is a piece of challenging methodological work explaining previous methodological assumptions in The Division of Labour. The primary objective of The Rules is to define the nature of sociology and its investigation field. Systematic methodological views of Durkheim could be found through this book. Suicide is very different to The Division of Labour in subject-matter; Durkheim was adopting a new method to explain statistical data through the lens of sociology. He found a relationship between suicide rates and religious denomination, mainly between Catholic and Protestant countries. In order to fully explain the relationship, Durkheim introduced economic, political and religious study along with sociology. Although the theme of Suicide is quite different to The Division of Labour, arguments towards social morality and social order are actually based on the latter book. An area of contribution through Durkheim s works is the relationship between religion and moral discipline. Not until 1895 was he aware of the importance of religion as a social phenomenon; this recognition shifted him from the materialistic school towards idealism. The representative piece of writing is The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (Short as The Elementary); it concerns the function of religion in society. The Elementary is also a comparative thesis of profound changes in modern societies and the traditional forms of society. In this book, Durkheim clarified the character of the sacred based on Australian totemism; discussed the importance of ceremonies and rituals in traditional societies in holding a strong conscience collective. Durkheim commented that all collective moral or ethical beliefs possess a sacred character. He also examined the relationships between rationalism, ethics, and egoism (means the cult of the individual) in The Elementary, and further illustrated the relationship between Christianity and modern moral individualism. Durkheim believed that the problems of modern society could be solved through consolidation of ethics through different divisions of labour, which requires different forms of authority derived from that of traditional societies. Unto the point, Durkheim holds a very similar idea to Confucius from China, while Confucius put Li as the functional practice to maintain social order Max Weber Max and Alfred Weber are two German brothers and distinguished sociologists. However, the fame of Max Weber exceeds his brother and become one of the secular trinities of sociologists deified wherever Sociology is taught beside Durkheim and Marx (Parkin, 1982). Max Weber was born in He grew up in a talking shop for local intellectuals including academics, businessmen, artists and politicians, which provided the foundation for his future career and established in him a great sense of culture, economics, and politics. His first career in academia was as a law lecturer in Berlin. However, his life was not easy and smooth. He once withdrew from academia, and spent substantial time travelling around South Europe and the USA, until resettling down and producing essays on methodology and the Protestant ethic, 26

36 dealing with a wide range of disciplines including legal institutions, religious systems, political economy, and authority relations. The complexity and richness of Weber s research was so surpassing that it is doubtful there will be anyone else who could range beyond Weber. Methodology wise, Max represented the school of interpretivists, contrasting to Durkheim s sociology, which was imbued with collectivity and an objective approach. Weber took the individual s subjective meanings as the starting point of social enquiry. Weber is famous for creating the theory of bureaucracy; he talked about authority and wrote Protestant Ethics and Capitalism, a book in which he analysed the relationship between Protestantism and capitalism, mainly about Calvinist-type social ethics which emphasised the value of secular activity and the duty of abstinence. He also wrote General Economic History towards the end of his life, providing conceptual frameworks and definitions of the history of economics. The importance of Weber in cluster research is as a sociologist, as he clearly discusses the clustering phenomenon in his publications (Max, 1961, p.49). One clustering phenomenon is the clan (Max, 1961), which means blood kindred and includes totemic clans, military clans, and other blood kinship groups. Every ancient city was composed of clans and not originally of individuals. He also mentioned guilds, which are an organisation of craft workers specialised in accordance with a type of occupation (Max, 1961, p.110). However, guilds are not clusters as the division of labour is on final product or technical specialisation of operations. Industry means production outside household needs wherein individuals receive monetary payments. It appears that at the beginning of capitalism, clusters differed from all three of these business phenomena; nonetheless, all can be found in both traditional and modern clusters. Modern clusters could be a part of industry or related to several industries at a time in an identical location, however, there will not be any blood kinship between the majorities of its members. However, in traditional clusters, guilds and clans are among their most basic units. Frankly speaking, the economic system based on clans was semicommunistic until around the 1920s to 1940s. Therefore, Weber s research and theories contributed to the area of traditional cluster research, which does not yet belong to the main stream of research in cluster studies The Applications and Influences in China The three sociologists are highly relevant to the development of China and the Chinese economy. Karl Marx provided the social structure and system of Communism which is the foundation of China s political system. In order to understand the history and society of modern China since 1949, Marx and his theories have to be studied. The influence of Communism is not once-off; the Chinese Communist Party seriously follows Communism and develops and upgrades the theory to be more applicable to China. In most universities in China, there are Marxism Study Centres. Therefore, Marxism does not only lay the structure, but has ongoing influence in modern China s social-political construction. The Chinese government finds solutions to social problems from the root of Communism. However, Marxism as a radical paradigm is not sustained by itself. The best environment for Communism theory is when there are conflicts between different social classes. When the 27

37 society is in harmony and peace, Communism theory has to be modified to a certain degree with local reality. Therefore, the guiding ideologies nowadays in China lies in combining Communism, formal president Mao s thoughts, Deng Xiaoping s theory and President Hu Jingtao s guidance. Communism is a very efficient tool to deliver the Chinese from feudal society to a completely new world. In the early development stage, it is like a road map for the immature government, but several disasters took place in history, which present a fact that the governing laws of human society do vary. Durkheim and Weber respect stages of the human history. Although they are not as famous as Marx in China, more and more scholars pay attention to their theologies. Because of racial Communism, for about twenty to thirty years the tradition has been ruined and completed opposed. Books were burnt; people were re-educated in order to set apart from the old times. The Chinese eventually realised they could not study the future and become better off without knowing the past. Durkheim and Weber present the most basic and generic social principles and theories for human society. Thus, scholars could follow their methodologies to study the past and guidance in analysis. Weber in particular was very interested in Eastern cultures like India and China. He had published books discussing Chinese religions. Both Durkheim and Weber discuss the division of labour as sociologists. Division of labour is the guiding principle of cluster theories. Discussion of division of labour in the social setting is highly relevant to the topic of Chinese traditional clusters. Clusters are firstly a social phenomenon, then a business phenomenon, because not matter whether a cluster or business, it is all about people. Without the linkage to people and interaction with people, it then is not humanity. The introduction about the three great sociologists and their main theories is not irrelevant, and crucial background studies will inspire in-depth exploration of social phenomenon. When discussing Chinese traditional clusters, the long history of feudal society and the current Communist political system are both very important backgrounds and environments. Marx, Durkheim and Max provide a summative overview of the past in a logic that can be understood today, and also predict the future social order and system which applies today. 2.3 Western Economists and Their Theories Clusters as a business phenomenon is part of or under the laws and principles in Economics. In history, there have been some Chinese economists attempting to sort out the laws of Economics. However, their contribution to China and the world has not been as great as the Western economists such as Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall, and later Nobel Prize winners in Economics. Max Weber considered China and India to have missed out on a very important stage in history, which was Capitalisation. The long duration of a feudal system pushed down attempts in free trade. Therefore, contemporary China undertook two forms of development processes: capitalisation and communism. Even though during the feudal system there is not obvious evidence of capitalisation from a political perspective, business activities in the Qing Dynasty was approaching the form of capitalism and is normally 28

38 considered as the start of capitalism in China. However, due to the restrictions by the feudal system and closing strategy to the outside world for over a hundred years, the inner fire of capitalism did not burn out. In order to understand the tension of different groups in feudal society, understanding modern economics is as important as the classics in order to gain complete understanding Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith was born in 1723 and died in 1790 (Adam Smith Institute 2010). He was a Scottish moral philosopher and a political economist who was a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith entered the University of Glasgow at the age of fourteen and studied moral philosophy who nurtured him with liberty, reason and free speech (Bussing- Burks 2003). Although he was granted a scholarship to attend the Balliol College at the University of Oxford, he considered education in his hometown was far superior to that of Oxford. However, in the large library of Oxford, Smith taught himself many subjects. Later in 1751, he gained a position as a teacher at Glasgow University and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759 in Glasgow. After this publication, he starts to shift his focus from moral philosophy to jurisprudence and economics. In 1776, Smith published The Wealth of Nations, which he spent ten year in writing. The book won instant success. Compared to hard sciences, humanity is interactive between different fields, such as philosophy, politics, and economics. The book had an enormous impact among the rising bourgeois of Europe and the freshly independent United States of America (Smith 1776). Similar as Carl Marx was to China, Smith provided the theoretical cannon for the growing bourgeois to strike back against Feudalist bureaucracy and philosophy. He lays the foundation of capitalism. The full name of The Wealth of Nations is An Inquiry into the Nature of Causes of The Wealth of Nations. The book is made up of five small books. Book I was on the causes of improvement in the productive powers, on labour, and on order according to which its produce is naturally distributed among the different ranks of the people. He put the division of labour in front of others, discussing the principle which gives occasion to the division of labour and the limitations by the extant of the market. Beside the division of labour, he also discussed the basic elements of economy such as money, price, wages, stock, and rent. These elements have become a crucial part of microeconomics today. Book II was on the nature, accumulation and employment of stock. Smith discussed division of stock, the expense of maintaining national capital, the accumulation of capital, productive and unproductive labour, stock lent at interest and the different employment of capitals. This section is also included as part of macroeconomics today. Book III was on the different progress of opulence in different nations, which is actually the wealth of nations. He argued on the natural progress of opulence, discouragement of agriculture after the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise and progress of cities and towns after the fall of the Roman Empire, and how the commerce of towns contributed to the improvement of the country. Book III is beyond country borders and talks about groups of countries, cities and towns; it is about the world economy. Book IV is 29

39 on systems of political economy. He explored the principle of the commercial system, restraints upon the importation from foreign countries of such goods as can be produced at home, the extraordinary restraints upon the importation of goods of almost all kinds from those countries with which the balance is supposed to be disadvantageous, drawbacks, bounties, treaties of commerce, the motives for establishing new colonies, conclusion of the mercantile system, agricultural systems which represent the produce of land as either the sole or principal source of the revenue and wealth of every country. These topics are not only part of political economics, but also included in international economics now. Finally, Book V was on the revenue of the sovereign or commonwealth. This section foresaw the future to have a common wealth nation or economic zone and provided the guidance for revolutionaries to construct a better nation breakout from feudal society to capitalism. This section covers the expenses of the sovereign or commonwealth, the sources of the public revenue of society, and public debts. The Wealth of Nations covered nearly all the main streams in economics, and provided the roadmap of what economics should be about. Understanding The Wealth of Nations is the key of understanding modern Western economies, capitalism and the history of independence of the United States of America. Smith s theory is not only applicable in the West. He discussed the principles in economics which governs business activities around the world. In order to better understand Chinese economy, we need to understand not only Marx, but also giants like Adam Smith, who present the general economic development of the nations, the very fundamental factors in economics and the relationships between land, labour, and capital. Only then can we study traditional cultural clusters better and in greater depth Alfred Marshall and Principles of Economics English economist Alfred Marshall was born in 1842 and died in He is considered to be the founder of new economics ; establishing a discipline concerning social welfare (Answers, 2010). Marshall was born in London and graduated from Cambridge University. Differing from previous social economists, Marshall held a degree first in mathematics then molecular physics and metaphysics, before shifting to ethics, psychology and finally economics. Similar to Smith, Marshall was interested in moral science, ethics and political economics. However, going back 100 years to Smith s time, there are not as many disciplines as for Marshall. The discussion of political economy in The Wealth of Nations was not an independent subject, but just an issue waited to be classified and settled. When knowledge is clearly defined into subject areas, it becomes harder to cover many subject areas as the knowledge in disciplines grows faster and has their own expertises. From strict hard sciences like mathematics and physics to humanity, and finally in economics, knowledge and wisdom about the nature and the social world are all inter-related. His most famous publication is Principles of Economics (1890) a revolutionary work in economics (Economy Professor 2010). Other works includes: The Economics of Industry (1890), Elements of Economics of Industry (1892), and Industry and Trade (1919). With the blood of a mathematician, Marshall created the new economics as a rigorous discipline with its own content and method by using 30

40 econometrics. He said goodbye to political economy and stopped it from entering the twentieth-century. Marshall laboured constantly to develop and polish his economic ideas and deepen his own understanding by grasping both existing economic literature and the economic reality of his time. In the book of Principles of Economics, Marshall emphasised that price and output of goods are determined by both supply and demand. The two curves cross at equilibrium; this is a fundamental theory in microeconomics. Consumer surplus and producer surplus is another key concept of Marshall s work. The surplus calculation measures the change in country well-being by imposing taxation, which is now named as welfare economics. The condition of Marshall s theory has three phrases: firstly, when the amount of time for which the stock of a commodity is fixed; second, in short period of time, the supply can be increased by adding labour and other inputs without increasing in capital input; finally, in the long run, capital input increases (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2010). Marshall, with a sense in psychology and philosophy, perceived economies evolve during times impacted by technology, market institutions, people s preferences and human behaviours. From Adam Smith, we learnt the invisible hand of the market and with Marshall we understand the basic laws in human behaviours in business. Marshall impelled to economics out of a heart of mercy; he considered the study of the causes of poverty was the study of the causes of the degradation of a large part of mankind (Economy Professor, 2010). As without improvement in economic conditions first, the majority of the population will have little progress in habits, aspirations and self-esteem. In order to improve the quality and character of the population, the standard of living has to be improved. Marshall s theories are applicable to the topic of this thesis studying on the Chinese traditional cultural clusters. His Principle of Economics give explanation of business behaviour and activities in clusters. He also contributes to the economics of industries whereas industry is one of the most important and mature topic before clusters. Industries are the components of clusters and go beyond clusters. Marshall perceived economics as an evolutionary process; so as clusters. Explorations on traditional clusters believe that clusters evolve and reveal themselves in different forms, relationships and dynamics, just like a biological body. 2.4 The History of Jingdezhen During the Period of Disunity ( ), there was a famous potter named Zhao Kai who invented new quality control technologies, which helped improve the total quality of Jingdezhen porcelain (see P1 in Figure 1). He was honoured as The Father of Porcelain. Before Zhao Kai, porcelain from this area exhibited good design but low quality, and had been rejected by the Royal Court (Xu, 2007). Due to the dramatic improvement in quality, the Royal Court began to place orders from the town for porcelain lions and elephants. However, some historians believe that the Jingdezhen porcelain industry started in the Tang dynasty ( ), because Jingdezhen gained its fame in porcelain production commencing in that 31

41 era (see P2 in Figure 1). Two potters, Tao Yu and Huo Zhongchu, made high-temperature fired pottery, known for its translucence and often referred to as artificial jade. Therefore, emperors appointed Jingdezhen to make porcelain for imperial use(sjostrand, 2007). Figure 1: Timeline of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Development (Designed by author 2008, sources from Cotterell (2006); Jiangxi Government Website (2007); Jingdezhen Industrial Park Website (2007); Zhuang (2008)) Prior to the Five Dynasties era, there are only records in books about the porcelain production activities in Jingdezhen. Beginning at that time, archaeological searches have identified at least four kiln centres, each with at least thirty kilns. The water absorptivity and transparency of those antiques had reached contemporary standards. The Song dynasty meant a lot to Jingdezhen (see P3 in Figure 1), not only because it received its new name Jingdezhen but also because it became the porcelain centre for all of China. During the civil war in the Song dynasty (late 1100s and early 1200s), the most famous kilns in the North were destroyed, and the political centre shifted to the South. At that time, the Royal Court did not create new kilns for imperial wares. Instead, after receiving production requirements from the court, Jingdezhen summoned all the best potters from the North and South together to design, choose, and fire the best wares possible. It is likely that this communal collaboration between the different potteries and kilns lasted until at least the fifteenth century, when private kilns are known to have assisted official kilns with imperial orders (Sjostrand, 2007). There were more than three hundred kilns in Jingdezhen during the Song dynasty, with the resulting porcelain distributed throughout China and also sent overseas. Thousands of pieces were 32

42 exported annually to the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. With the increase in reputation, Jingdezhen gained enormous competitive advantage over the other porcelain clusters in China (Joy Furniture Net, 2007). In 2006, Chinese archaeologists discovered three Song kilns in Jingdezhen, providing precious resources for research (Zhang, 2007). The Yuan dynasty lasted less than a hundred years; however, the porcelain development during this period was magnificent (see P4 in Figure 1). Although large quantities of porcelain were exported from the ninth century, it was the Yuan dynasty that significantly expanded maritime trade. Chinese goods eventually reached the whole world; nonetheless, their full impact would not be seen until the fourteenth century (Sjostrand, 2007). From the Yuan dynasty, emperors started to send their officials to govern the manufacture of royal porcelain. The first porcelain office was set up in the Yuan dynasty, and the first exclusively royal kilns were built. Jingdezhen then gained a monopoly over the best natural resources. The classic styles of blue-and-white and colour glaze, were particularly popular during the Yuan dynasty. A number of technical and decorative achievements also took place in Jingdezhen, including the most significant technological breakthrough in clay material mixture, termed the two ingredients technique (Jiangxi Government Website, 2007). The two ingredients technique involves adding liquid China stone proportionally with kaolin. By using different proportions of the two clay bricks, different types of wares were made. For finer wares, more kaolin was required; this allowed sharp details to remain secure during firing. On the other hand, China stone was required for translucency. Before the Yuan dynasty, potters only used kaolin as their basic clay. Based on achievements during the Yuan dynasty, the Ming dynasty experienced even more rapid development in porcelain production (see P5 in Figure 1). The four features of porcelain production activities at that time were: high production volume, high quality, diversity in designs and styles, and broad distribution channels (Joy Furniture Net, 2007). Jingdezhen was called the city of all day thunder and lightning. The first ruler of the Ming dynasty, Emperor Hongwu, prohibited international trade, yet the porcelain industry of Jingdezhen continued to flourish. During the Ming dynasty, the Royal Court set up the royal porcelain factory. They gathered all the best potters and resources in Jingdezhen and invested heavily in porcelain production. Some world famous porcelain pieces were produced during this time. The royal factory began with 20 kilns, reaching a maximum of 80. There were also 900 private kilns in addition to the royal ones, with more than 100,000 potters living in Jingdezhen. Porcelain production during the Ming dynasty achieved high specialisation with clear divisions of labour. The production procedure involved up to 72 steps (Jingdezhen Government Website, 2007). The first significant discontinuous production of porcelain took place during the civil war in the late Ming dynasty and Early Qing dynasty (see War I in Figure 1). Jingdezhen porcelain production in the Qing dynasty included all varieties produced during the Ming dynasty. During the reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong (see P6, P7, and P8 in Figure 1), the production process was upgraded three times. Jingdezhen porcelain 33

43 become even more famous domestically and internationally. French Jesuit missionary Père François Xavier d Entrecolles (1698) made complete records of the porcelain production system in Jingdezhen. His research and documentaries helped porcelain technology development in the Western world. He was later appointed as an officer of the Royal Court during the reign of Kangxi (Wikipedia, 2007). In the early 14 th century, blue-and-white porcelain had rapidly become the main product line in Jingdezhen, reaching the height of technical excellence during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (Wikipedia, 2007). In addition to blue-and-white porcelain, there were many decorative innovations including qinghua (blue-and-white), wucai (famille verte), and susancai (famille noire). During the reigns of Yongzhen and Qianlong, one of the most popular decorative techniques reached perfection famille rose (Stuart, 1994). Besides famille rose, there were also doucai, falangcai, and other colour-glazed techniques (Xu, 2007). Ying Tang was a porcelain officer living in Jingdezhen for about thirty years during the reign of Qianlong. His kiln is known as the Tang kiln. The quality of his production is considered to be the highest in history (see Historical Peak in Figure 1). Tang was actually more a researcher than a government officer. Experienced as a potter, he also wrote the most famous porcelain articles during this time. After the Empire, China underwent a period of instability. In 1855, the royal porcelain factory was closed. Later, the struggle to set up Jingdezhen Porcelain Limited in 1910 ended when civil war destroyed the plan. In 1929, the National Party established the Department of Porcelain in Jingdezhen; this effort also did not last long before the Japanese invaded China. During the Sino-Japanese war (see War 2 in Figure 1), most of the kilns in Jingdezhen were damaged, with only about 30 remaining. In 1949, only about a hundred studios and 1000 workers were identified in the area; the cluster was nearly destroyed. After 1949, the industry was restored a bit (see P10 in Figure 1), but the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976) nearly removed the entire industry from Jingdezhen. During this period, most porcelain experts were persecuted; all porcelain enterprises and education institutes were forced to close; all technicians became farmers in the countryside; clay fields misused for other purposes caused great damage to the natural resources. Through 1976, the production of Class A porcelain was reduced to a meagre 20% with a total loss of 13 million Yuan in Jingdezhen (Xu, 2007). 2.5 Chapter Summary This chapter illustrated the background literature of Chinese traditional cultural clusters as a whole. Firstly, it examined traditional Chinese thoughts. For over a thousand years, the most influential philosophers in history were Confucian and Lao Zi. The current philosophies and guiding business principles are developed based on their teachings. Their influences are not just in theology, but also in the form of arts, culture expression and business practices. The most influential Western theorists in China are Karl Max with Communism, with Émile Durkheim and Max Weber in sociology. The influences of Western economists and their theories were illustrated. Adam Smith with the Wealth of Nations and Alfred Marshall with Principles of Economics are honoured and be considered to be the most popular economic 34

44 classics in China. Finally, the history of Jingdezhen was reviewed as part of background literature, which gives the context of this project. The background knowledge provided by Chapter Two will benefit Chapter Three by framing the substantive area of this project and giving more freedom for this research to link with fields beside business and management, such as sociology and economics. The content of the background literature reassures that Grounded Theory is best suited for this research project, as it is more exploratory-oriented and fits with the nature of research. The background literature expands the horizon of this research by providing the linkage between business and management concepts clusters with sociology, philosophy and economics. This will certainly assist in developing a more holistic and open sampling and coding system by keeping the ideologies in mind. The research design in Chapter Three is guided and influenced by the background literature review. 35

45 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN This chapter is developed in the environment created by the background literature review. The function of Chapter Two was to release this research from business boundaries and connect it with a broad context in sociology, philosophy, economics and history. This chapter is about how to design the research procedure to best suit exploration in Chinese traditional cultural clusters. First will be the discussion of the dominant research method Grounded Theory. How to combine the strength of Glaser and Strauss and develop a suitable research design for the research topic is another focus. Normal structure and application of Grounded Theory will be included. The unique characteristics of Grounded Theory as a qualitative research instrument have to be identified. Secondly, Grounded Theory could not work by itself; it has to work with other research methods like interviews, observations, literature, questionnaires etc. Among a pool of research methods, which are the most suitable and available methods to cope with Grounded Theory in this research is discussed. Thirdly will be the design of research procedure how to prepare for fieldwork, how to collect data and how to analyse data. Finally, ethical approval will be planned for fieldwork and data collection. It will include the process of applying ethical approval and finalised approval at the end. 3.1 Application of Grounded Theory Grounded Theory is the fundamental research method of the research. It determines data collection, and data analysis. It also guides how to conduct field work. In order to succeed in generating theory, it is very important to have a workable research procedure design combining Grounded Theory with other sub research methods such as interviews. The application of Grounded Theory will be divided into three parts. First will be a discussion between Glaser s approach and Strauss s approach. As the originators of Grounded Theory, questions need to be answered, such as why they went opposite to each other, and is it possible to combine the strength of both and when to make a choice between? Following this, a discussion about the choice of research methods will be presented about how to collect data and what are their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the procedure design based on Grounded Theory will be presented Glaser s Approach vs. Strauss s Approach The debate between Glaser s approach and Strauss s approach goes on for over a decade. Methodological differentiation between the two founders arose consequent to the publication of Basics of Qualitative Research by Strauss and Corbin. In this later publication, Strauss denied and rejected many of the key points which Glaser treasures. Two letters from the book 36

46 Basic Grounded Theory Analysis by Glaser 1992 shows disappointment and disagreement of Glaser towards Basic of Qualitative Research. In the letter of Jan 1991, Glaser asked Strauss to withdraw Basics of Qualitative Research as it engaged in neglecting 90% of its important ideas. Glaser considered the book a whole different method that should not be called Grounded Theory. The issue was to him as serious that it would leave[s] out quantitative researchers and will wreck the work of qualitative researchers too (Glaser, 1992, p.2). Glaser argued the later book of Strauss cannot produce Grounded Theory, but a forced, preconceived, full conceptual description, which is no longer Grounded Theory. In short, Glaser considered that, for many reasons, Strauss s later book was no longer Grounded Theory as identified in their co-authored book in To make it clear, Glaser discussed the differences from the origin of Grounded Theory in contrasting with the Straussian approach. First, the logic of Grounded Theory is to ask two formal questions without preconception: 1. What is the chief concern or problem of the people in the substantive area, and what accounts for most of the variation in processing the problem? 2. What category or what property of what category does this incident indicate? In order to answer these two questions, the researcher has to constantly keep comparing the incidents, and coding and analysis must be conducted patiently, without forcing the data, waiting for and trusting that emergence will occur. This is opposed to the Straussian approach, which involves not asking these questions and interrupting true emergence by asking many preconceived, substantive questions such as what is really going on, what is really at issue for the respondents, etc. The true nature of the data is then lost. Glaser agreed that Strauss s approach is easier for students to use without the fear of failure or not finding something. The following chart (Table 2) provides comments regarding the differences between the Glaserian and Straussian approaches by a selection of some recent researchers. Table 2: Comparison between Glaser s and Strauss s Approaches Researcher Glaser Strauss Douglas (2003) 1. Argue for the necessity for the researcher to be more creative and less procedure-oriented in methodologically approach 2. Allows issues to emerge in the course of research process 3. Researcher decides the identification and specification of research issue 4. Prefer a more general analytical method in its frame of reference 5. Methodological approach is 1. Recommend a more linear approach in methodology 2. More specific and prefer to identify a phenomenon or issue for study 3. Researcher predetermine the general subject of enquiry before entering the field 4. Prefer more structured set of analytical steps 5. More prescriptive in specifying the steps to be 37

47 Rodon and Pastor (2007) Hunter et al. (2005) primarily upon the constant comparison of different incidents, perceptions, relationships, and issues, with the aim of identifying inconsistencies, contradictions, gaps in data and emerging consensus on key concepts and relationships. 6. Allow central concepts to emerge inferentially from the coding process reflecting the key issue the informants perceive 1. Less focus on methods and forcing structure on data and free from preconceptions 2. N/A 3. No substantive literature review, but research from unrelated field (Glaser, 1992, p.32) 1. Remain faithful to the original description of Grounded Theory in 1967 and develop extension of the original 2. Using substantive literature would bring assumption about what is in the data 3. Use literature after theory emerged taken by a researcher in coding and analysing phenomena. 6. Use focus observation, interviews and archival data on a particular issue, coding around the issue. Central concepts represent the interplay of subjects and researcher s perceptions of the nature and dimensions of phenomena under study 1. Continue to refine the coding technique, let researcher become more active 2. Provide a more structural and linear approach 3. All kinds of literature can be used before a research study begun (Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p.56) 1. Refer full conceptual description, and incorporates analytical techniques and denote a set of well-developed categories systematically interrelated to form a theoretical framework 2. Involves using the literature to identify phenomenon and analyze the data predominantly through deduction 3. Second body of literature could be woven into the emerging theory stage 38

48 Due to the debate above, the targets of the two researchers is very clear. Strauss s strategy is to make Grounded Theory more workable by compromising the spirit of inductive research, and present a standard format or procedures to conduct Grounded Theory. It is easier to follow the track and succeed in interpreting data purposefully with a plan. On the other hand, Glaser sticks on the origin of Grounded Theory and attempts to protect the inductive nature of Grounded Theory. Due to the differences in methodology considerations, it appears that they are holding very different opinion towards the use of literature pre and after, research procedures, coding, freedom and creativity of researcher and how central concepts are generated (Table 2). The purpose of using Grounded Theory for traditional cultural clusters is for its inductive nature of exploration. It seems very hard to combine the strengths of both approaches, especially considering the theology background of it. However, theories are never perfect in all situations. According the nature of this research, there is room to argue specific steps in conducting Grounded Theory. As the method is originally used in Sociology, it is inappropriate to apply the theory without adjustment. Researchers should gain benefits from applying Grounded Theory in the business field, including management The Choice of Data Sources and Data Collection Methods Grounded Theory guides data collection, but it is not a data collection tool. Methods like interviews, observations, field notes, photography, and archival documentary could bring rich data from the field. Following the spirit of Glaser, he encouraged to use rich data and keep constant comparison between different sources of data. This section will discuss the pros and cons of different data and how they are applied in research. Later on, the methods will be included in the research procedure and discussed as part of the design Interview In-Depth Interview Interviews are a traditional method in the qualitative research paradigm. The goal of the interview is to deeply explore the respondent s point of view, feelings and perspectives. In this sense, in-depth interviews yield information. There are three types of interviews (Patton 1990): informal, conversational interviews; semi-structured interviews; and standardized, open-interviews. In-depth interviews are an open-ended interview and a discovery-oriented method suitable for describing both program processes and outcomes from the perspective of the target informants. In-depth interviews involve data collection and data recording for deeper meaning and understanding of responses. It occurs with one individual at a time to provide a more involving experience. This method can be used to explore topics in their own right to provide more depth about a subject or individual cases than a quantitative survey. Circumstances for in-depth interview are: complex subject matters, detailed information sought, busy and high-status respondents, and highly sensitive matters. Cluster issues are a complex subject matter and in-depth interviews could deal with this circumstance. Glaser (1998) discouraged the use of tape recording as the researcher is after important concepts and patterns, not details as in other more descriptive methods. Recording is time consuming and inefficient, and Glaser was very conscious of wasting time (Fernandez 2004). However, no 39

49 recording is very risky. It is better to have a record and transcript for future recall, especially when the research process takes a long time. The advantages of in-depth interviews are: it could remove the restriction by structured questions and answers about informants experiences and behaviour; it could have immediate access to the depths of informants experience and it is flexible of investigating the hidden meaning of spontaneous ideas and seemingly devious thoughts in connection with the items discussed. The limitations of indepth interviews are: limited control over environment. The researcher may have to compete with disruptions and other problems to acquire quality information and the comparability of interview. There is a large gap between the informants; social status and knowledge and might have bias in conduction Observation Observation is a method by which first hand data is gathered on programs, processes or behaviours being studied, and provides an opportunity to collect data on a wide range of behaviour to capture a variety of interactions and generally explore a topic all within a natural setting. Observations can be flexible while searching for in-depth knowledge of the context. It requires an attitude of openness to an experience. Observations are useful during formative or summative phases of evaluation and understanding narrative language of a program or group of people with non verbal communication. It could help in understanding the community context. This research is inductive research, and relies on the belief that; observation could help to understand the cluster setting. Qualitative observation goes well with ethnography, narrative inquiry, phenomenology, and Grounded Theory. In contrast to testing ideas for deductive purpose, observations are developed for inductive purposes. Observers record their own experiences in order to understand the cultural universe from an interpretivist s perspective and convey them into field notes (or other forms of records) within theoretical context of explaining their data. The advantages of observation are: it could develop a holistic perspective, and learn things that are invisible and beyond oral conversation. It exists in a natural, unstructured, flexible setting. The disadvantages are: time consuming and expensive, it also requires experiences and training in observation. The behaviour observed may be modified, and distort data Field Notes A field note is a tool and record that contains the descriptions of what has been observed, usually in written or voice recorded form. It is required for most qualitative methods; they make up part of the data collection process and therefore should be considered in the qualitative design process. The researcher has to develop a system of note keeping; there is no universal way of note taking, but very much a personal style and issue. Field notes are fundamental to observers and are a fundamental part of work. They contain everything that is relevant and worth noting to observers for future recall and helping the observer to understand the context, setting and the nature of the issue. A field note should include the time, the place, the setting and social interactions, and also quotation of who says what. It 40

50 also contains the feelings, reactions, and reflections of the researcher in the process of observing. Field notes are not by a mechanical recorder; it should contain the insights, ideas and judgments of the researcher and these insights become part of the data of field work and recorded in the context of the field note. The main advantage of a field note is to get information and data beyond interviews or surveys and open to rich information including the setting, the atmosphere and interaction between social contacts, which is not possible to be included in interviews. It is based on observation, and become the hard evidence of what is being observed and reflected. The problems of field notes are the terminology and language used in the field notes are more subjective and emotional they then become very hard to interpret. When a researcher gets into habits of recording interpretations and reflections, then he/she would have less descriptive recording. To inductive research like Grounded Theory, field notes might lead the research into preconceptions of what the researcher feel, but no what the data is about. Another problem of keeping field notes is how to standardise scales like good and poor. This might cause validity problems Historiography Historiography is an empirical research paradigm using interpretive or qualitative approach which focuses on a chronology over a substantial period of time, in order to obtain a fuller and richer understanding of a situation or set of circumstances. Using historiography in this research is not to compete with Grounded Theory, but as complement in the understanding of traditional culture and its historical background. The archival resources are qualitative secondary data; it could be part of the data pool to gain better understanding. There culd be evidence of a previous event that has special importance to determine how current decisions are made. There is a possibility of a current event being part of a cycle and understanding the nature of the cycle would help the current situation. In the former research, there are hard evidences showing the development of porcelain cluster in Jingdezhen is compiled with many life cycles (See Figure 1). Therefore, understanding the historical setting is vital to the centre of the research problem. The advantages of this research method are: it aids in appreciating and understanding a particular situation by tracking the origin of the circumstances that led up to it. It also provides contextualisation of the issue, thus improving the effectiveness of data analysis. The limitations are: the research method is only relevant in a limited number of situations. There needs to benefits of studying chronology of events. The process of recording history is inevitable bias. The aim of historiography is to add to the body of knowledge on a topic and facilitate the development of new theories it aligns the spirit of Grounded Theory. The sub methods of Grounded Theory are as above: Interviews, Observations, Field Notes and historiography. Generally speaking, they are not conflicting with the nature of Grounded Theory and could help enrich the data to reveal the facts in this case. These methods are complementary to each other, providing distinct advantages. The usage of triangulation of methods is taking different perspectives and angels to analyse and evaluate data. Discussion of these methods does not mean that they will all be included in data collection. They are appropriate options for researchers to conduct in the field work. However, in real practices, 41

51 they might encounter difficulties and may end up not included as data collection strategies. In order to remain creativity in data collection, other research methods could be employed, such as photography, focus groups, narrative inquiry, case studies etc. If any of these options are applied, a discussion of the research method will be included and also explanation of why the method was used. However, the research itself could be considered as one big case study, but applying Grounded Theory procedures. Observations and field notes will definitely be part of field work, but due to their limitation in interpretation, they might not be included in the core stream of data analysis in order to focus on more reliable sources. However, they will be included as additional information to the interviews as they will be collected during the same time period and will be complementing the data collected from interviews Discussion of Elements and Procedures of Grounded Theory Section discussed the differences between Glaserian and Straussian, Glaser s approach is more preferable to this research topic; however, it is worth looking at the difference between the two processes (Table 3). The discussion of the differences between the two choices is presented in Section The discussion below does not go back to the debate of preference, but carefully makes decisions about how to best use Grounded Theory in this project. Table 3 Comparison between Strauss s and Glaser s Procedures Strauss s procedure (1987) Glaser s procedure (1978) 1. The concept-indicator model which 1. Theoretical Sensitivity directs the coding 2. Theoretical Pacing 2. Data collection 3. Theoretical Sampling 3. Coding 4. Theoretical Coding 4. Core categories 5. Theoretical Memos 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Basic Social Processes 6. Comparisons 7. Theoretical Sorting 7. Theoretical saturation 8. Theoretical Writing 8. Integration of the theory 9. Generating Formal Theory 9. Theoretical memos 10. Theoretical sorting It is clear that Strauss s procedures are prescriptive, while Glaser discusses different areas in Grounded Theory but does not necessary follow a process, especially as Strauss puts comparisons as a step but it is not included in Glaser s procedure, as Glaser considers comparisons are ongoing and constant. It could not be a step but an instrument throughout. By comparing the procedures of the two founders and also the comparison between their theoretical approaches in Section 1.3.3, Glaser s is chosen to be the approach for this dissertation as he tries to give more freedom and creativity to researchers. The application of 42

52 Grounded Theory in this project is a new application where no evidence shows any application of Grounded Theory in business cluster research. However, the logic of Strauss s approach will also be useful to give guidance on the procedure, which is clearer. For better understanding of Glaser s theoretical design, there are numbers of Glaserian scholars, e.g. Lehmann (2001) and Fernandez (Fernandez, 2004). They summarized Glaser s construct, and develop a process model first by Lehmann and later refined by Fernandez. Figure 2 is the origin model developed by Lehmann (2001). From this model, it is clear that theoretical sampling is not one off but a starting point of a cycle of constant comparison until theoretical saturation. Sampling gets the data from the field for open coding, and generates categories from concepts. Theoretical coding the categories will result in either saturation or not yet saturated; if not, then go back from theoretical sampling again; if yes, then substantive theory emerges. Lehmann s model is very straight forward and clearly presents the position of different elements and their interaction. However, the elements in the model need to be discussed in order to apply later for data collection and analysis. Figure 2: Grounded Theory s Building Process Model Source: Lehmann 2001, as cited in Fernandez (2004, p.84), p.84, original from Lehmann s PhD Thesis p.291 Fernandez s (2004) model is based on the construct of Lehmann s, and is more detailed (See Figure 3). It starts with entering the field. Rather than exclude coding in substantive areas, he includes the coding part as a substantive area. The most important development of this model is including memos and extant literature which Glaser considered to be very crucial in Grounded Theory generation. It is very important to notice that memos and extant literature are outside the substantive area; they guide and influence the coding and theory generation process and also are influenced and directed by categories and substantive theory. The memos are not completed in data collection, but refined through the whole process and the 43

53 extant literature does not emerge only from the grounded theory but also coding process and memos. Figure 3: Grounded Theory s Building Process Model Updated by Fernandez Source: Fernandez (2004, p.85), developed and expanded from Lehmann s 2001 Research Model This research design will then follow Fernandez s model. Elements from this model will be discussed in the following paragraphs Preparing to Enter the Field Just like an army preparing for a battle, they must first prepare food, drink, weapons and as well as training physically and mentally. In Theoretical Sensitivity chapter 2, Glaser (1978) discussed the theoretical pacing; what researchers have to prepare before getting into Grounded Theory research. Glaser emphasises that researchers should have creativity in order to generate theory; furthermore, reading the literature and attending training seminars are important. Reading in Grounded Theory plays different roles in different stages. One area is examining the publications on cluster research to identify the theoretical gap to be addressed in this research project. This research topic is a follow up of researcher s previous dissertation on the confirmation of Porter s cluster theory in Jingdezhen s porcelain industry 44

54 (Zhuang, 2008), and the results showed that traditional cultural clusters shows different developing patterns comparing to contemporary clusters. The second area of reading is outside the field reading, or background reading, and is included in Chapter Two. This branch of literature is not to guide the theory generation, but help in understanding philosophical, social and economical phenomena in traditional cultural clusters. They provide ideas and inspiration, and enhance the degree of theoretical sensitivity. The third area concerns the site. Because Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster has a history of 2200 years, it is worthwhile to track its history which more or less determines what happens in the cluster today. Reading about the site beyond history is the production techniques and technologies. These resources become the first part of sampling. In terms of training seminars, the researcher attended postgraduate workshops (3-4 mornings), department seminars (fortnightly), higher education development centre qualitative research workshop (twice), and online forum of research scholars (monthly). In terms of research components in education, the researcher got credit in the Marketing Research Method course and attended the Management Research Method course. These trainings provided sound background in research and research skills. Some of them are directly related to Grounded Theory, and provided a list of important reference in this field Theoretical Sampling Theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges. This process of data collection is controlled by the emerging theory, whether substantive or formal (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, p.45). In the case of grounded theory, sampling begins as a commonsense process of talking to those informants who are most likely to provide early information. This information is then analysed through the application of open coding techniques, or line-byline analysis (looking for words and sentence in the text that have meaning), which should help to identify provisional explanatory concepts and direct the researcher to further theoretically identified samples, locations, and forms of data (Goulding, 2005, p.296). The general procedure of theoretical sampling is firstly eliciting codes from raw material from the beginning of data collection through constant comparison as the data pours in. Then, codes direct further data collection and repeat the cycle to generate various properties and categories until saturation (Glaser, 1978). A more straight forward presence of theoretical sampling is in Figure 2. Theoretical sampling continues until the very end of the research including the write-up stage in order to maximise observation opportunities (Fernandez, 2004). It is necessary to discuss the logic of theoretical sampling. There are several pairs of contradictory elements in Grounded Theory taking effect at the same time; for example: inductive to deductive. No doubt, Grounded Theory is an inductive research methodology in which theory emerges after data collection through analysis. It means the research is not 45

55 guided by certain hypotheses like in deductive nature research, e.g. in hard sciences. However, a deductive approach is still applicable - not to guide the research, but used to derive from induced codes conceptual guides as to where to go next, and guides subsequent theoretical sampling to generate theory. The deductive principle is below the inductive principle. Memos become a good way to record ideas, judgements and inspirations from data collection and coding, to theory generation. The memos then are deductive through inductive data collection to reveal the nature of the issue and case. Another pair is: conceptual and logical elaboration. Conceptual elaboration in sampling is the systematic deduction from the emerging theory of the theoretical possibilities and probabilities for elaborating the theory as to explanations and interpretations (Glaser, 1978, p.40). On the other hand, deductive elaborating is vital to the theoretical sampling phase. It is included as part of conceptual elaboration. The systematic deduction results in generating hypotheses from previous codes and guides the researcher back to the locations and comparative groups in the field to discover more concepts and interaction from raw data. Data collection in theoretical samples will cooperate with other research methods in section These methods will only affect what sorts of data to collect and how to collect them. They will not impact on how to interpret data as Grounded Theory itself has a mature construction of data coding. Once again, collected qualitative data made beyond the scoop of data from the methods from Section 3.1.2, and may not include some data like field notes for coding due to validity and reliability reasons. Choosing Glaser s approach does not mean that the system Glaser developed and committed is entirely appropriate to the research of Jingdezhen s traditional cultural cluster. For example, he disagreed to use tape recording for interviews (Fernandez 2004). This section is about the design of research, in real situations; some information might be harder or easier to obtain, so it is better to have a creative and open mind to welcome a variety of data and methods for theory to emerge Coding The purpose of using Grounded Theory is to generate a set of categories and properties which fit work and is relevant for integration of a theory. Coding is the initial stage of this goal. In Figure 3, there are three different coding methods: open coding, theoretical coding, and selective coding. Open coding and selective coding belong to substantive coding; theoretical coding is another distinct category. Open coding is diametrically contrasted with a preconceived code, for which the data may be coded, irrespective of degree of relevance, which itself is hard to determine. There are two forms of open codes: substantive codes and theoretical codes. In order to improve the quality of coding, there are several rules to follow. Firstly, it is helpful to keep three questions in mind: What study is this data for? ; What category does this incident indicate?, and What is actually happening in the data?. The three questions grant theoretical sensitivity to researchers affecting data analysis, collection, and coding. Secondly, data must be analysed line by line. Allan (2003) promoted another coding method which is called key point coding. Key point coding is much more efficient than micro-coding or word-by-word and line-by-line. The third rule is that the researcher 46

56 should do his/her own coding. Forth is always interrupting coding and spending time to keep memos about ideas. In addition, keep coding directly linked with theoretical sampling. Selective coding is to select code for a core variable and to cease open coding. It also indicates the researcher delimits his/her work for open coding and focuses on the analysis of one core variable. Theoretical coding conceptualises how the substantive codes (like open coding and selective coding etc.) may inter-relate as hypotheses to form a theory. Theoretical coding is also implicit that substantive codes can be related without it (Glaser 1978). Theoretical coding provides broad pictures and new perspectives through integrating concepts creatively and flexibly. The creativity and flexibility should remain grounded on data, rather than being abstracted from nowhere. It takes care of a group of coding families to generate a variety of concepts and explanation rather than focusing only one possible concept. Later in data analysis, it will introduce a more detailed coding system based on Glaser (1992, 1978, 1967), Lehmann (2001), and Fernandez (2004) Generating Theory Grounded Theory is about the process of generating a grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). There are two forms of theories generated by Grounded Theory: substantive theory and formal theory. According to the descriptions of both theories, substantive theory is about minor working hypotheses of everyday life; and formal theory as all-inclusive grand theory. Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster belongs to the latter category. In Figure 3, there is only substantive theory, no formal theory, but they are inter-changeable. Constant comparison and comparative analysis is the key of succeeding in theory generation. Constant comparative methods of qualitative analysis are divided into four stages: 1. Comparing incidents applicable to each category; 2. Integrating categories and their properties; 3. Delimiting the theory; and 4. Writing the theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967, p105). In order to generate theory, the previous stages in the Grounded Theory process are all very important. Glaser states that researchers should believe that theories will be generated. This mentality will encourage researchers to take a step further each time until theoretical saturation. The Grounded Theory method is time consuming like a marathon; whether 5km or 25km, there is an end Theoretical Memo Theoretical memo is a core stage in generating Grounded Theory. Memos are the theorising write-ups of ideas about codes and their relationships as they strike the analyst while coding (Glaser, 1978, p.83). The four basic goals of keeping memos are to: first, develop ideas and codes; second, keep complete freedom and run openly; third, build a memo fund or store, whether small or large, for future writings and talks; and finally, maintain high sortibility. In order to keep high sortibility, Glaser developed six rules for memo writing in Chapter 5 of Theoretical Sensitivity (1978). The writing of memos starts as soon as open coding until theory formed (see Figure 3). Theoretical memoing is a process of comparison and conceptualisation. It compares indicator to indicator, then indicator to concept, and concept to category like a snow ball. Memos are generated from coding, but also previous memos. Some 47

57 other important rules about memo writing are: 1, keep memos and data separate; 2, always leave time for memo writing and repeat memoing through out; 3, researchers can force to bring on a memo by starting to write on a code; 4, not being afraid of modifying memos; 5, keep a list of emergent codes handy; 6, comparing codes if the memo seems the same; 7, follow digression through conceptual elaboration basis; 8, leave it open; 9, discuss about conceptually generated patterns not about people; 10, deal with racing ideas one at a time; 11, indicate in memos saturation; 12, always be flexible in memoing techniques. These rules will definitely guide how to keep memos Extant Literature Extant literature through the whole research process develops the researcher s theoretical sensitivity and knowledge on grounded concepts. Extant literature includes literature that is a source of data to compare with existing grounded data. In this research, information about the history and the techniques and technology of porcelain crafts belong to this category. Secondly, pre-research background literature outside substantive areas of research is also important to inspire the researcher, enhance theoretical sensitivity and give new ideas about how to code data and conceptualisation. Finally substantive literature will be covered to compare with grounded theory and position the research into the relevant research body. More discussions about the use of literature are in Chapter One and Chapter Validity and Reliability Check Grounded Theory is considered to be the most rigorous theory amongst qualitative methodologies. The reasons could be: firstly, constant comparison throughout the whole process of research; second, systematic coding and analysis, which make data analysis explicit for readers and have a very high degree of transparency; third, well-structured documentary, especially memo writing. Readers can track how categories are formed from concepts through memos. Data and memos are separated clearly that keep the inductive power of data and deductive creativity in generating hypotheses in memo writing. Glaser balanced the two well, but in terms of validity and reliability checking, Strauss and Corbin take a step further. Their criteria will be employed for evaluation (see Table 4 below). Table 4: The Research Process Criteria 1. How was the original sample selected? On what grounds (selective sampling)? 2. What major categories emerged? 3. What were some of the events, incidents, action, and so on that indicated some of these major categories? 4. On the basis of what categories did theoretical sampling proceed? That is how did theoretical formulations guide some of the data collection? After the theoretical sample was carried out, how representative did these categories prove to be? 48

58 5. What were some of the hypotheses pertaining to relation among categories? On what grounds were they formulated and tested? 6. Were there instances when hypotheses did not hold up against what was actually seen? How were the discrepancies accounted for? How did they affect the hypothesis? 7. How and why was the core category selected? Was the selection sudden or gradual, difficult or easy? On what grounds were the final analytic decisions made? How did extensive explanatory power in relation to the phenomena under study and relevance as discussed earlier figure in the decisions? Source: Corbin and Strauss 1990 pp The importance of this list is to provide an inspiration of what aspects of the research might require more careful validity checking. By keeping the list in mind, the researcher is able to avoid systematic mistakes and biases. However, this list is not perfect in any way, but gives researchers guidance of developing lists to best suit their particular research interest. It is worthy to return to this list and answer the questions before theory is generated. 3.3 Ethical Approval Ethical protocol is a compulsory procedure of the University of Otago (the researcher s university) for conducting research which involves contact and communication with people. It encourages researchers to treat ethical issues seriously in order to protect human rights while getting information from people. At the same time, the ethical approval application itself is a vivid piece of work that provides solid support and protection for researchers if anything goes wrong later. It is considered an independent piece of research statement and declaration that fits the construct of a research. Finally, it also involves experts in the field and experts in methodology to double check the research design; if it is workable, valid and reliable, and become part of valid evaluation in the initial stage or planning stage of the research. It takes a very long period of time to get ethical application approved. The complete version of application was handed to researcher s supervisor on 19 July Some amendments were added to a newer version on 22 July 2008 and handed over to the department ethics committee, Sara, for departmental approval. Sara sent back the document on 30 July 2008 and required to add several amendments to the application. It took another two days to modify the document to meet the departmental standard and was signed by the head of department on 1 August 2008 (Appendix 8.2.2). After that, the application was sent by the department to the University Human Ethics Committee. On 12 August 2008, the committee gave a reference code to this document and stated that the application was waiting to be reviewed in the next committee meeting. 22 August (Appendix 8.2.3) 2008, the committee sent a conditional approval and recommended some modifications to refine the document. Then, after fixing all the spots required, a full approval was provided on 29 August 2008 (Appendix 8.2.4). Appendix is the final version of ethical approval with Chinese 49

59 translation. It took five to six submissions with refinement to gain ethical approval. Throughout the process, the researcher experienced the pressure and struggle to get it done, which is very similar to the experience of conducting Grounded Theory which has no due date of completion from the beginning. 3.4 Chapter Summary This chapter explores the research design of applying Grounded Theory in generating theory for Jingdezhen s porcelain traditional cultural cluster. As the leading methodology, Section 3.1 started with discussions of Grounded Theory application used in this research. Three main areas have been covered. Firstly, an old debate was included: the differences between Glaser s and Strauss approaches. Through a thorough exploration in the original works of both founders of Grounded Theory, and later discussions of the same topic by other researchers, Glaser s approach seems more suitable for the chosen area of research, which promotes creativity, freedom and inductive nature of data. However, it does not necessarily mean that Glaser s construct could fully apply to research on Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster, yet it will involve some recent updates and developments in Grounded Theory, such as Fernandez (2004) in Grounded Theory model, and Allan (2001) in developing key point coding. Later, some other research methods included in the research design interviews, observations, field notes and historiography are discussed. Through discussions of pros and cons, the data library will be made up of interviews from Beijing and Jingdezhen as well as field notes from the two places. Finally, procedures and elements from Fernandez are clarified (2004). Most of the design is based on Glaser s Theoretical Sensitivity (1978). After Grounded Theory, the research design also included validity and reliability checks. The criteria used are developed by Strauss and Corbin (1990). At the end of this chapter, the ethical approval application is discussed, the process of getting approval sharing similarities with the process of conducting Grounded Theory, which also takes a long time without a due date and keep refining until approved (Saturation). In the following chapter, the research design and construct will be applied. It concerns field work and how to get data from field, sampling the data and data coding. This chapter is about application and is the most significant part of Grounded Theory. 50

60 CHAPTER FOUR: THEORETICAL SAMPLING AND CODING Alongside to the research design in Chapter Three, Chapter Four combines field work, sampling and coding. Due to the nature of Grounded Theory, the two sections form essential parts of the theoretical cycle working towards saturation and theory generation. Theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyses his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges. This process of data collection is controlled by the emerging theory, whether substantive or formal (Glaser and Strauss 1967, ch3). In a word, theoretical sampling involves data collection in all stages; it includes what to sample, where to sample, why to sample, how to sample and when to sample. In the following paragraphs, the initial field work preparation will firstly be discussed. It will answer the five questions before data collection. Coding is the bridge between data and theory; it includes substantive coding and theoretical coding and the discussion between the two was in the previous chapter. In this chapter, different coding strategies alongside the research process will be presented either for further sampling or for forming concepts, categories and finally theory. 4.1 Fieldwork and Sampling In this section, initial fieldwork preparation will be illustrated. There are two stages in preparation: first is in the initial stage of the master program; second is the middle stage of the master s program, which generated two sets of data. The fieldwork from Beijing and Jingdezhen are then discussed separately. They form the two main locations for holding interviews. After that that is the first trial of coding, followed by the final structure of the Grounded Theory process Initial Fieldwork Preparation The fieldwork preparation can be divided into two parts. First was at the beginning of the research project from early 2007 to early 2008, and later is before data collection in mid Because Jingdezhen s cluster research was part of the researcher s postgraduate project in 2007 and was presented in an international conference (2008), the planning for the Master s thesis started in The initial project using historiography, however the quality of data was not very good as the researcher did not go to Jingdezhen herself and could not collect quality empirical data from the site. However, through secondary data research, the researcher developed a research literature list contains part of the most important research and publications. In 2008, the supervisor of the researcher went to Jingdezhen during an academic trip to retrieve the literature. Finally, he managed to get three highly relevant 51

61 publications about Jingdezhen s porcelain industry, porcelain in China and porcelain making techniques. These are very precious resources as all these books have limited editions and could number only a few thousand prints. However, these resources could not form the main body of data as they did not talk how Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster interacts and works. Therefore, these resources could be backup material to explain some phenomenon or extend data for theoretical sampling. The research method used is historiography, as the data itself contains phenomena for a period of time; not just at a point in history. Even the craft techniques were illustrated based on time duration. Secondly, through previous research and literature research, the researcher targeted two figures to get quality data. The first one was Dr. Wang Jici. Wang is the pioneer of cluster research in China. Her publications and contribution to Chinese cluster research is enormous. In order to understand Chinese traditional cultural clusters, it is between understanding and researching current cluster research in China and their findings. A Chinese version of Wang s profile is included in Appendix The second figure was Dr. Fang Lili. Fang was teaching at the Jingdezhen porcelain art college before becoming a professor at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. This is the most honourable Chinese research entity in Arts. Fang has very rich publications about Jingdezhen where she was born and bred. Her publications were considered to be canon in Jingdezhen s porcelain industry; not just about techniques but about its changes, developments and also holistic view of the industry (cluster). The Chinese profile of Fang is included in Appendix Normally, researchers will enter the field with informal contacts with scholars from relevant fields and pay informal visits or make some phone calls. However, because the researcher of this project attempted to apply for overseas research funding, the contact with these two scholars endured a formal process. Firstly, a request was sent to each of the researcher (See Appendix and Appendix ). Not long after, the researcher of this project won an Invitation for Collaborative Research from Peking University organised by Dr. Wang Jici in April (Appendix ). Peking University is the best university in Social Sciences in China. Dr. Fang Lili wrote an for confirmation on collaborative research (Appendix ). As an anthropologist and head of many tangible and intangible heritage projects, Fang did not this researcher until she returned from field work. She is an energetic researcher who is tireless in her ongoing anthropology projects and writing books. Her husband is a famous porcelain artist from Jingdezhen and gained fame around the world through exhibitions. Beside the two figures, Beijing and Jingdezhen were targeted as destinations. Beijing is the centre of academia in China. It has a rich number of relevant scholars in the area of cluster research like Dr. Wang Jici and researchers in the area of Jingdezhen porcelain like Dr. Fang Lili and her husband, who both live in Beijing. Interviews in Beijing with these scholars were used to guide the research direction and theoretical sampling of interviews in Jingdezhen. They also provided the scope of potential attributes of Jingdezhen through their experiences of other contemporary clusters and traditional clusters. Jingdezhen is the actual field of this 52

62 project. Most of the raw data about this industrial cluster had to be obtained in this particular geographical location. Although in the end, the researcher did not get the award and funding, the collaborative research with the two scholars still took effect. The original planning was a two-month fieldwork in Beijing and Jingdezhen. Because these two locations are not close to either Dunedin (in New Zealand where the researcher s university is based), or Xiamen (in China, hometown of the researcher), it seems impossible to have individual sampling, coding and then collecting new data following the route in Figure 2. Beyond the distance, because there was no scholarship or award to support the two trips (the two cities are far from each other), the strategy used was to gain as much as possible during the trip and using intuition and observation to guide the data collection process Fieldwork in Beijing The first part of field work was conducted in Beijing at Peking University in September, 2008 during the Paralympics game period (See Appendix 8.4.1). Because the swimming pool of Peking University was assigned to be the host of swimming games, the gatekeepers were very alert and examined every single person passing the gate. The researcher was stopped at the gate when going for an appointment with Dr. Wang Jici for the first time. The only way to enter the campus was for someone to show their ID and keep records of entering and leaving with a national ID card. It was very frustrating to go through the same process every time when entering the campus. However, Dr. Wang was very supportive and helpful. After a long fruitful talk with her, she wrote down some names that were potential interviewees in the cluster research field, including a lecturer and co-author of many of her articles. Because the order of the interview depends on their schedule, not on theoretical sensitivity of doing Grounded Theory, the goals of each interview became: firstly their research interests in clusters; secondly their opinions towards Chinese traditional clusters; and finally to bridge the interview with previous interviews to ensure the flow of information and continue similar topics and momentum from previous interviews. The interview transcripts are included in Appendix to Appendix During the interviews, the researcher attempted to draw their attention into the traditional cultural field. Because most of them are not researching this field, the feedbacks from these questions were very limited, shallow, and low in value, except from Xin Tong, an associate professor from Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Tong is very interested in Chinese traditional culture and her hobby is antiques. Her talk was very inspiring and the researcher kept field notes after meeting with her (Appendix ). In the following week, the research paid a visit to Panjiayuan, a very famous local antiques market in Beijing. In this market, there are a number of foreigners visiting the spot and buying different things from merchants. Through some informal interviews with the porcelain merchants and dealers in the market, most of them guaranteed their goods are real from ancient dynasties and mostly said they are from Jingdezhen! Some honest dealers said yes, 53

63 their products are from Jingdezhen but not from ancient dynasties but newly made. The proportion of porcelains in the market and the fame of Jingdezhen reassured that it is a very important spot to study traditional culture and clusters. Through visiting Panjiayuan, the researcher gained initial understanding of the antiques market, especially the market for reproduction ancient porcelains. During the last week in Beijing, the researcher visited Dr. Fang Lili as well. Fang was busy and the first and second meeting both took place in very interesting locations. The first was at her husband s exhibition at a Korean cultural centre. This meeting was informal; just get to know her and say hello. The second time, she invited the researcher to attend her departmental meeting as an outsider, and then invited the researcher to dine with her students and colleagues. Her flexibility and outgoing personality revealed her character as a genuine anthropologist. She is also knowledgeable about works in many humanity fields, is very sensitive to changes, and is constantly reading to discover something new inductively. Her works in Jingdezhen porcelain industry are considered to be the most valuable in the field. Her connection with Jingdezhen and porcelain from a well-trained anthropologist perspective produces insightful and constructive description and analysis from a higher stand. At the restaurant, Dr. Fang introduced three of her students to the researcher. One had already finished her PhD and become a researcher at the centre; the other two were Masters students. All three were currently working towards a big project on Jingdezhen. The superb thing was they also planned to go to Jingdezhen in October for their third visit, and they are very familiar with the city and porcelain industry. Thus, the researcher decided to live with the three researchers while in Jingdezhen. The researcher stayed in Beijing for three weeks and these three weeks granted the researcher valuable resources to access Jingdezhen. The interviews with researchers in clustering could not be the dominant research as they are closely relevant, but to a broader extant. Similar to the resources from historiography, this part of research will also be discussed if the theory did not saturate itself. The interviews at Beijing were also practices for real fieldwork in Jingdezhen about how to conduct interviews and how to clear noises. The first interview with Dr. Wang Jici had a coding trial. This will be discussed later in the chapter. The interview with Dr. Xin Tong is also included as part of main data, as it has a very high degree of relevance. The research process of this project is firstly sampling is using historiography to get historical and technical data, then interviewing cluster researchers in Beijing, and finally interviewing stakeholders of the porcelain cluster in Jingdezhen which became the main body of research. Coding starts from interviews from Jingdezhen; then it shifts to interviews from Beijing, and continues with field notes from both locations. The data from historiography is big enough to be included as part of the extant literature which will provide good support if the first three sets of data could not be theoretically saturated; then they could get data from historiography and keep on coding to reach saturation. Moreover, keeping historiography in extant literature could also help to understand the theory from a field literature perspective. The purpose of the fieldwork in 54

64 Beijing and Jingdezhen is to build up a data library as designed below in Figure 4. According to Figure 4, a new analysing design will be planted into Figure 3 to form a new model. Figure 4: Sampling and Coding Order Data library Historiography (part of extent literature) Beijing Interviews Jingdezhen Interviews Observation/ Field Notes Fieldwork in Jingdezhen The difficulty of doing sampling and coding together is time pressure. The logic of collecting all the data at once is to ensure the inductive nature through intuition driven by observation, interviewees and the environment. For example, the first interviewee is the landlord of the researcher. It was not pre-organised but by coincidence, which means that in Jingdezhen a significant number of people have direct or indirect relationships with porcelain such as the landlord. He is a government officer and his wife is a porcelain trader in Shaojiwu (A famous porcelain market in Jingdezhen. See Figure8 the red star sign). The city planning of Jingdezhen starts around the people s square and spreads out like a spin. Many famous kilns and porcelain factories are at the centre of the city within walking distance. The researcher and fellows from Beijing were living at Cuiyun Road (See Figure 5 the blue cross). When the researcher noticed the special identity of the landlord, the first appointment was settled. Due to the result of the first interview, the interviewee suggested several spots that were worthy to explore including Fanjiajing (See Figure 5- the purple triangle), Shaojiwu, Xinmindu, Jinchangli, Porcelain World (Taocidashijie), etc. 55

65 Figure 5: Map of Jingdezhen City Centre Because of the interview with the landlord, Shaojiwu became the first spot to conduct research, followed by Fanjiajing. Fanjiajing is considered to be the centre of reproducing ancient porcelain and it was very close to researcher s location. Fanjiajing was then chosen to become the dominant spot for research. When researching on Fanjiajing (See Appendix ), the researcher strongly felt a need to be equipped with knowledge of ancient porcelain production and history. There are two very famous tourist spots called Jingdezhen Porcelain Folk s Museum, and Jingdezhen Porcelain Historical Exhibition District (See Appendix ). After visits to these museums, the researcher returned to Fanjiajing for the second time and the quality of observations and in-depth interviews improved. Shaojiwu and Fanjiajing are both famous for reproduction of ancient porcelain trading and it is seldom to find contemporary porcelain there. During October each year, the Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair occurs and several forums by experts are held during this time. In order to understand the latest developments and trends in Jingdezhen, it was necessary to attend the fair. Another reason is that Dr. Fang Lili was speaking at the forum. After the fair, the researcher interviewed some traders selling contemporary porcelain at Porcelain World (Taocidashijie), Guomao, the sculpture factory, etc. Another branch of porcelain production of Jingdezhen is kitchenware. The production of kitchenware in Jingdezhen originally started from the 1950s and was produced by state-own factories. Nowadays, entrepreneurs either produce it themselves or buy brands from the stateown factories. Most of these entrepreneurs are originally from the factories, including former workers or members of the managerial board. The four branches of porcelain production continue the style from late Qing Dynasty. Among the artists in Jingdezhen, it is very hard to separate contemporary from late Qing style as most contemporary innovations are based on paintings from late Qing. However, from the outlook of porcelain it is still quite easy to tell whether it is late Qing style or new style. The icon of late Qing style porcelain production is 56

66 Yishucichang (Arts porcelain factory). Artists from the factory are still working there but not arranged by the state. They are artists yet entrepreneurs, each one is specialised in different styles and earn for themselves. Because the artists are integrated in one location, it is easy for national and international buyers to find and trade with them. This group of artists are well paid and paid the highest among the four categories of porcelain production in Jingdezhen. The interview transcripts in Jingdezhen are included in Appendix Not all interviews are transcribed as some voice records were of poor quality and could not be captured easily. Therefore, although 24 interviews were done in Jingdezhen, only 18 of them were transcribed. Figure 6 below illustrates the layers and division of Jingdezhen s porcelain industry. In order for the reader to visually understand of the four categories, representative crafts pieces are presented in Appendix to However, this is only a very small part of the industry and could not capture the entire world of Jingdezhen porcelain. These categories will then guide data sorting and coding orders. Figure 6: Jingdezhen Porcelain Divisions Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Ancient reproduction porcelain Fanjiajing/Shaojiwu Qing Dynasty style porcelain Arts porcelain factory (Yishucichang) Contemporary porcelain Sculpture factory/ Porcelain World (Taocidashijie) Kitchenware Renmin porcelain factory/ Guangming porcelain factory, etc First Trial of Coding In the very beginning of fieldwork when first interview finished, the researcher followed the instruction to code the data immediately after the data was sampled. The example is Interview One with Dr. Wang Jici (See Appendix ). After meeting with Dr Wang Jici on September , she wrote down some potential interviewees in the researcher s notebook and eventually there were five days between the first and second interviews. Therefore, the researcher had sufficient time to complete the first trial of coding and creating the transcript at the same time. The work process is presented as below in Table 5. Because the researcher was not living on campus, some time was wasted in finding the right direction to visit the campus for the first time. The worse thing was that was during the Paralympics, Peking University reserved one of the halls for holding the games. The gate keepers carefully inspected every person coming in and out and it took about an hour to get into the campus, including the time waiting for Dr. Wang Jici to come and meet up with the researcher. The 57

67 interview was located in the departmental library of Urban and Regional Planning Peking University. Before the interview, the researcher chatted with professor Wang about previous research and the purpose of this research in detail. Dr. Wang Jici then received a copy of consent form for participants and the ethical approval documents (See Appendix 8.2.1) and signed. Under University of Otago policy, participants are respected and are free to answer or decline answering questions. The consent form is an agreement of respecting participants and protecting their rights in the interviews. The whole duration of the interview was 21:47 minutes. After the interview, there was a discussion about Dr. Wang s research interests and the projects she is involved with, along with her PhD students who have co-papers in national and international journals. She took the researcher around the department and introduced the research interests of her students, in order for the researcher to gain some understanding about potential interviewees. It also give the researcher a choice of who to interview next. Table 5: Interview One Task Timing Table Interview One Tasks Field work Interview voice record Interview transcript (Appendix ) Transcript translated into English (Appendix ) Coding I (Appendix ) Coding II (Appendix ) Theoretical analysis (Appendix ) Total duration Timing 7 hours (before and after interview, including time to travel) 21:47 minutes 7 hours 3 hours 2 hours 2 hours 30 minutes 22 hours approx. It was a pleasant interview with Dr. Wang Jici, as she is a very productive researcher and respected expert in the cluster field. The hard time came in transcribing the interview. It took two and a half days to transcribe the interview; approximately seven hours in total. It was very frustrating as it seemed like the transcription was endless. (This process accelerated with subsequent practice later). In the beginning, the researcher tried to translate the transcript, and it took another three hours to complete this (Appendix ). It did not sound right to translate all the transcripts, as there are differences between grammar and way of expression between two different languages. It was a big struggle: Glaser did not talk about the language issue! Not even the other journal articles referred to this before this research. Rather, this researcher believed that there should be foreign researchers using other languages applying Grounded Theory and summarising the logic of when and how to translate the data. Instead of applying another structure and system into the current heavy structure, the researcher tried to code the data using different coding strategies (Appendix and Appendix ). The Coding strategies are based on Allan (2002) s key point coding. 58

68 The first coding sheet (Appendix ) is based on the Chinese transcript and followed sentence by sentence. The coding sheet use ABCD to represent the number of the interview and 1234 to represent the code. The code was firstly derived from data in Chinese and then translated into English. Secondly, Coding I was organised in a chart using only the English codes on the right hand side (Appendix ). Then, similar codes are grouped and are classified into categories. In Appendix , the researcher attempts to carry out theoretical analysis based on the codes and emerging concepts from Coding I and II. However, it was not finished as developing theoretical analysis is kind of strange after coding. The analysis should be included in the coding process. The coding process needed to be refined based on the first trial. The unit of analysis will follow Glaser (Glaser, 1978, p.62), see Figure 7. In Figure 7, I represent incidents; incidents are indicators of concept (or category). In other words, incidents are coded from data, and codes form categories. Codes will be constantly compared to discover any similarities and differences, and consistency in meaning will result in construction of categories (Fernandez, 2004). Figure 7: Concept Indicator Model Source: Glaser, (1978, p.62) During the first trial in coding, it showed that the huge amount of time spent in translating all the documents were: firstly, not necessary; and secondly, it is better to code in Chinese than in English and when categories develop, then translate into English to generate theory. As mentioned before, Glaser even suggested to not transcribe interviews, saying that it was a waste of time. It is important to be mindful of the time issue as Grounded Theory itself is already very time consuming. Furthermore, the interview transcripts in Chinese were already over 120,000 words in total, and it is impossible for readers to go over the entire transcript word by word, even if translated into English. The key is to follow a logical way of coding rather than understanding every single word. Due to the complexity of this research, it was necessary to develop a more detailed model based on Fernandez s in Figure 3, becoming Figure 7. Modifications include firstly the data library (mentioned in 4.1.2), after theoretical 59

69 sampling all data is reserved in the data library as three parts: Beijing interviews with cluster researchers, Jingdezhen interviews with stakeholders, and field notes. The reason of building the data library is that the field was far from the researcher s home university and the period of data collection was limited, therefore, in order to make most of the trip, it is better to gather a grand database and waste no time coding in the field. This is a limitation of the fieldwork. However, the data collection process is not without order, and guided by theoretical sensibility and inductive interviews. Moreover, translation is now placed after category generated and before theoretical saturation. The coding will then follow the route of Figure 8. All of the raw data and analysis will be recorded in a CD Appendix. 60

70 Figure 8: Modified Model 1 Source: Modified by researcher 2008 from Fernandez (2004, p.85) The Final Structure of Grounded Theory Process The construction of the sampling and coding system is the combination of Figures 4, 7 and 8. Figure 4 presents the order of sampling in data library. Figure 7 presents the formation of categories with codes. Figure 8 presents the entire process of Grounded Theory with the data library. In order to have a more comprehensive understanding, it is necessary to develop Figure 8 with more details, combining the concepts of Figure 4, 7, and 8 into a new diagram as Figure 9. Figure 9 is tailored to this particular project and might not be applicable to other projects. The use of the data library is very creative. In order to use the data library carefully, the data has divided into divisions: Field Notes, Beijing Interviews and Jingdezhen Interviews. The three streams of data are collected in three locations and the nature of the data is very different throughout. Jingdezhen interviews are the dominant data for theoretical coding (as data sampling was already completed intensively in three locations). The Jingdezhen data was also divided into four types of porcelain making. The types of porcelain also indicated the location of data sampling. Reproduction of ancient porcelain will be the focus, as it has the longest history and it is highly relevant to the centre of this research project. The other two are complementing information for better understanding of this traditional culture cluster. The 61

71 three sets of data will be coded separately and then the findings mapped by comparing and combining categories from the three divisions. The data will not immediately reach saturation but will be examined and tested by historiography from extant literature. To improve Fernandez s model, the researcher combined Glaser s concept indicator model and kept constant comparison in open coding, theoretical coding and selective coding, by comparing indicators and categories. Figure 9: Modified Model 2 Grounded Theory Application Design Source: expanded and modified from Lehmann s 2001 and Fernandez 2004 Keeping memo throughout the entire process of coding and theory generation is important. A memo can be a sentence, a paragraph or a few pages. Glaser stated that the goals of keeping memos were: 1, to raise data to a conceptual level; 2, it develops the properties of each category and defines them operationally; 3, to raise hypotheses about connections between categories and their properties or the properties only; 4, to connect with clusters of other categories to generate theory; and 5, it begins to identify the emerging theory with other relevant potential theories. Memos begin during the joint collection, coding, and analysing of data (Glaser, 1978) and plays a very important role in the formation of theories. 62

72 Regarding Chapter about the use of literature in Grounded Theory, there are three main stages involving literature: before Grounded Theory starts, using background literature in other fields without close relevance; during analysis using literature in relevant fields; and after theory has been generated with field literatures. In Figure 9, extant literature interacts with the three parts in Grounded Theory. Firstly, the use of literature for refining the coding process is not from close and relevant fields, but other fields that might inspire the conceptual analysis in Grounded Theory. Second is with the memos. Memos guide the literature and literature generates memos. However, literature generating memos is at the later phrase of analysis when the theory is being generated. Finally, the literature also contributes in informing and linking substantive theory with other theories in the field. The actual coding activities are carried out with three interdependent data sets mainly in this order: Jingdezhen interviews, Beijing interviews, and historiography. Due to the uniqueness and differences in approaches, the three sets of data will be analysed separately to form three sets of categories. After the three sets of categories are all saturated, a comparison among the three sets of data will be carried out to gain a more holistic theory. Although the Beijing interviews are the second set of data coded, the Beijing interviews were conducted before the Jingdezhen interviews. The reason to put it behind the Jingdezhen interviews is due to the nature of the resources in these two places. The Jingdezhen interviews are the target field of exploration. The advantage of doing the Jingdezhen interviews after Beijing interviews is to gain some guidance, but not too much restriction, before entering the field. The purpose of analysing Beijing interviews later is for the same cause. An unexpected 12 month gap occurred between the data collection from the fields, and major data coding; however, this gave the researcher enough time to get away from a perspective strongly influenced by the classics and literature from cluster research, and code the data with a fresh and open mind. There are 24 interviews conducted in Jingdezhen, five interviews from Beijing, and 11 field notes from both location (one from Beijing and ten sets of notes from Jingdezhen (see Appendix 8.4.3)). The fourth set of data - historiography - has a huge body of literature; thus it will be analysed to reach theoretical saturation as part of the extant literature. However, the theoretical saturation testing will mostly depend on saturation determined by the historiography. The paragraph below is a sample coding of the first interview from Jingdezhen. The logic of coding and memos is presented in Figure 9 above. Sample coding Jingdezhen interview 1 Indicators Shaojiwu (location) shops 63

73 2. Businesses involved with around people businesses 4. Businessmen own display stands rather than a shop 5. In one shop, they are not competitors, clear boundaries across different techniques 6. Clear division of labour 7. Craftsmen have their own techniques and relative relation in inheritance Industrial research of Jingdezhen porcelain would be quite helpful, study of its internal network and supporting industries will also be beneficial to the main industry 37. Jingdezhen survives with its porcelain industry and all the other industries are highly dependent on it, such as hospitality, housing, real estate, which drives the local economy 38. Once the core industry prospers, then will the related and supporting industries Categories 1. Mostly very small SMEs ( ) 2. Family business, (1.15) 3. Active cooperation between functional businesses and traders ( ,1.20) 4. Unhealthy business environment cut-throat competition and cheating ( , 1.23, ) 5. Geographical proximity of production divisions ( , ) 6. Local artists with going popularity inside and outside Jingdezhen (1.24) 7. Kitchenware with great potential of profitability and growth ( ) 8. High business confidence ( ) 9. Importance of Jingdezhen porcelain to its entire local economy ( ) Because the interviews are mostly conduced in Chinese, it is confusing to include the open coding process from Chinese with English indicators. The sample above is how indicators are generated and how categories are generated from them. In order to achieve constant comparison between indicators and categories and among categories, every interview (or a set of data) generates categories in addition to the previous category list. Below is a sample of how new categories are recorded to the previous category list: Categories 1. Mostly very small family owned SMEs (Developed and joint with Categories 1 and 2)( , 1.15, 2.1, 2.5, 2.8) 2. Active cooperation between functional businesses and traders ( ,1.20, ) 3. Clear division of labour (New) ( and ) 10. Good craftsmen remained in the industry during recession and less impacted (New)(2.17, 2.23) 11. Importance of Jingdezhen porcelain to its entire local economy Domino effect ( , 2.24, 2.27) 12. Self-produced and self-selling (New)( 2.6-7) 64

74 13. Nepotism (New and joint with categories 2.2-4, 2.20) 14. Wholesalers terminal Shaojiwu (location) (New)( ) After two to three sets of open coding, there will be a new memo generated based on constant comparison and categories and resort categories combining and rewriting categories to increase its readability and flow of logic. A sample of memo generated after Interview 3 in Jingdezhen is presented below. Please refer to Appendix 8.5 for complete version of sample coding of Jingdezhen interviews, Beijing interviews and field notes with nine sets of data coding, three sets of category lists and three memos. Coding Memos 1 I. Re-arrange categories Categories (Constant comparison and resort, theoretical and selective coding) 1. Small family-owned SMEs by selling own production and hiring stand(s) rather than shop(s) for display (Developed, joint with Categories 12 and 20) ( , 1.15, 2.1, 2.5-8, 3.46) 2. Active cooperation between functional businesses and traders ( ,1.20, ) 3. Clear division of labour with high level of cooperation between divisions and with traders (Developed, joint with Category 2) ( ,1.20, , ) 4. Unhealthy business environment without business norms cut-throat competition, cheating, plagiarism, copyright issues and corruption (Developed, joint with Category 17) ( , 1.23, , 3.11, , 3.4-6, 3.23, , 3.41) 5. Geographical proximity of production specialisation with nepotism or apprentice ( , , 2.2-4, 2.20, 2.13, 3.1-2) After resort: Categories 1. Small family-owned SMEs by selling own production and hiring stand(s) rather than shop(s) for display (Developed, joint with Categories 12 and 20) ( , 1.15, 2.1, 2.5-8, 3.46) 2. Clear division of labour with high level of cooperation between divisions and with traders (Developed, joint with Category 2) ( ,1.20, , ) 3. Unhealthy business environment without business norms cut-throat competition, cheating, plagiarism, copyright issues and corruption (Developed, joint with Category 17) ( , 1.23, , 3.11, , 3.4-6, 3.23, , 3.41) 4. Geographical proximity of production specialisation with nepotism or apprentice ( , , 2.2-4, 2.20, 2.13, 3.1-2) 5. Kitchenware with great potential of profitability and growth ( ) 65

75 II. Possible relevant field of literature accordingly 1. SMEs 2. Cluster networks 3. Cluster external business environment 4. Geographical proximity with special employment relation nepotism or apprentice 5. Emerging sectors from traditional industry/cluster The rest of the memos of Jingdezhen interviews, Beijing interviews and field notes are recorded in Appendices to The coding activities of all data from the data library are finished. Because the size of the Beijing interviews and field notes are relatively smaller comparing to the Jingdezhen interviews, these two sets of data were finished before the Jingdezhen data. It is very hard to examine if the theories achieved saturation with field notes and the Beijing interviews, as they are small and new categories are always generated throughout. However, with the Jingdezhen findings, there are in total 24 interviews with about 32 interviewees (see appendices). Although different interviewees have different approaches, until the end of data coding, there were less and less new categories generated. The nature of the Jingdezhen porcelain research, unlike most Grounded Theory projects and literature, is not in a closed environment or system. It is in an open and dynamic environment, therefore the theoretical saturation would not be limited to generating no new pieces of information generated, but according to the key categories, there are hardly any new categories generated (even this is very hard to achieve in industry and cluster research). In terms of triangulation and testing theoretical samples, there is a stream of literature from anthropology and sociology about Jingdezhen porcelain production, while business papers about Jingdezhen are rare and not as good quality. The literatures for triangulation includes: firstly, Jingdezhen Porcelain Capital of China (HUST 2008). This DVD set is produced by Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, the News Office of Jingdezhen People s Government, Jingdezhen Radio and TV Station. It is one of the national Eleven fives key projects in electronic publication and is authorised material. Secondly is the Tradition and Changes produced by Fang Lili (2000), the most famous anthropologist in Jingdezhen porcelain. Through the examination by HUST (2008), there is no new category generated; however, there is some additional information into current categories: 1. factors for cluster incubation, Changjiang river for water power, raw material the clay and transportation; steps in porcelain making; 3. Famous artists offspring of Zhushanbayou Wang, Xiliang; and 4. Culture Jingdezhen study formed as a discipline. Tradition and Changes was published in 2000, and although it is a bit out-dated, it is considered a key publication in this field. Some porcelain production locations are not key porcelain production centres, however, it includes an in-depth discussion of Fanjiajing. There was no new category generated and all key findings from the book are updated with findings from this research project. Therefore, the categories are now theoretically saturated. 4.2 Mapping the Key Findings Before entering Chapter Five for discussing the emergence of theory, it is worthy to try to map the findings as much as possible in a more straightforward way by using diagrams, charts and tables to present the whole picture of Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster from the key categories. The parts which could not convert into figures or tables will then be compared 66

76 with current research literature. As the data met theoretical saturation, re-organising the categories of the three data sets to form a sensible theory or theories becomes the first priority. Appendix 8.6 records the resorting of the key findings by combining 64 categories from the Jingdezhen interviews, the Beijing interviews, and field notes guided by Jingdezhen s key categories and combining this with the other two sets of key categories. Due to the length of new key categories, there are two resorts arranged in order to avoid misclassification as well as to form abstractive theoretical concepts out of the 64 categories. Finally, there are 13 key categories generated from final theoretical resorting presented in Appendix 8.6 as the complete key categories are too big to be included below. It naturally comes up with 13 relevant fields of studies. The discussion in the next chapter will be around these 13 areas; mapping and comparisons between the findings with areas, and literature from the field. The purpose of such discussion is grounded in the theoretical design of Grounded Theory to make linkage with current research in the field (this issue has been discussed in Chapter One and Chapter Three). Table 6: Possible Relevant Fields of Literature 1. Important business concepts in Jingdezhen cluster a) SMEs b) Competitiveness c) Entrepreneurship d) Financial management e) Production management f) Industrialisation and upgrading g) Innovation h) Branding strategies (city image) 2. External business environment 3. Geographical proximity and division of labour 4. Government functions in clustering 5. Cluster internal business network 6. Industry workforce features 7. Buyers marketing network 8. Divisions of markets 9. Directions future development 10. Chinese cluster research and cluster research classics 11. Features of Jingdezhen traditional cluster 12. Traditional culture 13. Cluster incubation and breeding In total there are nine figures and tables generated from the key Categories 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 13. Categories 1, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are more abstract concepts concerning the directions of Jingdezhen s porcelain industry, features of Chinese cluster research and literature, features of Jingdezhen traditional cultural cluster and traditional culture. These topics could be easily connected with the existing literature without assistance of diagrams and charts. The topics of the nine emerging theories are presented below in Table 7. According to the newly generated substantive theory (with nine figures from key categories), the relevant fields of literature which will be covered in Chapter Five will be presented in Table 8 in order. The 67

77 relevant fields of literature with the findings and theories are divided into two main sections: first with the relevant research literature with nine emerging theories (in Table 7); second with the rest of the findings without figures which are explicit facts, ideas and concepts ready for discussion in the field. The topics presented in Table 8 will become the sub-headings in Chapter Five to guide and classify discussions in a logical order. Table 7: Topics of the Nine Emerging Theories 1. Jingdezhen Porcelain Within Global Economy 2. Transformation of Buyer Behaviours: Roles, Locations, and Sourcing Channels 3. Impact of External Business Environment on the Porcelain Industry 4. Government Intervention vs. Public Expectations 5. Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Internal Network Core and Supporting Industries 6. Porcelain Cluster Population Structure 7. Traditional Divisions in Porcelain Technique Specialisation 8. Contemporary Porcelain Cluster Incubation Timeline 9. Comparison between Local-embedded and Government Planned Markets Table 8: Relevant Fields of Literature 1. Globalisation Economy and Global Market 2. Buyer Behaviours in Clusters 3. External Business Environment 4. Government Intervention 5. Cluster Internal Network 6. Cluster Population Study 7. Divisions of Market Specialisation 8. Cluster Incubation and Breeding 9. Sustainability and Effectiveness Comparison between Markets I. Cluster Theories with Competitiveness II. Chinese Cluster Research and Chinese Traditional Clusters III. SMEs, Entrepreneurship and Financial and Production and Management IV. Innovation V. Brand Management Source: resort from Table 6 68

78 4.3 Chapter Summary Chapter Four is about theoretical sampling and coding, and is the most important chapter as it describes the efforts and struggles involved in this project. The research design in Chapter Three provides the theoretical map for sampling and coding. According to the nature of qualitative data and its complexity in Jingdezhen s porcelain industry, Figures 8 and 9 were generated based on Figure 3. There are three sets of data in a new body called data library, and historiography data is classified as a stream of extant literature. In a simple Grounded Theory application, a stream of data only needs to reach theoretical saturation in order to be tested, while in this study of Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster, different research methods built up triangulation and each stream of data is unique in nature and provided information from different angles. Therefore, unlike a typical Grounded Theory application, the saturation examination is held through the historiography. Additional coding and memos can be found in the Appendices. The emergence of theory will be based on the key findings (or emerging categories) and tested by authorised historiography data. Through mapping the key findings, there are nine diagrams and tables illustrating different key areas of Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster. The emergence of theory is based on Section 4.3 about mapping the key findings, with nine new figures emerged from a total of 13 key findings. The next chapter contains explanations and an integrative discussion of the emerged theories and conceptual findings with field literature. Its functions are first, to explain the mechanisms of the emerged theories; and second, to discuss and compare the key findings with streams of cluster research in order to spot the contributions and limitations of this research project. 69

79 CHAPTER FIVE: THE EMERGENCE OF THEORY AND DISCUSSION Under the guidance of Chapter Three with thorough exploration and comparison among different Grounded Theory applications, mainly Glaser s and Strauss s, Chapter Four presented field work, theoretical sampling, and coding, and produced substantive theory (as expected). The substantive theory contains 13 categories and covers 14 main topics. From these 13 categories, nine figures grounded in data were generated. There were nine topics which corresponded with high relevance to the nine figures, derived mainly from key categories 2-8 and 13 and the supporting data groups. The remaining five conceptual findings from the substantive theory have close linkages with the five fields of study. The reason for this chapter is to explain the findings, especially the outcome of the nine figures with the findings which show dynamic relationships and divisions. These nine figures are the centre of the key findings and are all about the features of Jingdezhen s porcelain industry. The discussion of the rules, facts, and mechanisms of these nine figures will be included with current literature in later sections. The five fields of study will include discussion of Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster. The conceptual findings linked with these five branches of literature and fields will be discussed in Section Integrative Discussion of the Emerged Figures from Theory with Field Literatures In order to succinctly present the findings from this project, this section will cover nine topics in a rather condensed manner. Each topic will commence with an overview presented as a figure, followed by an explanatory discussion. The explanatory discussion will be led by the 13 key findings and rooted in field data to present a more holistic picture of Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster. According to the complexity of the nine key figures, Section 5.1 will only cover the explanatory discussion. The findings will be backed up with brief literature reviews in Section

80 5.1.1 Globalisation of the Economy and the Market Figure 10: Jingdezhen Porcelain Within Global Economy This figure presents Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster within the present globalised economy. From the outside in, there are several layers of relationships in Figure 10. Firstly, the big global market can be divided into a global buyers market and national buyers market. Within the national buyers market, there is the Jingdezhen porcelain market. Secondly, the main groups of buyers internationally and nationally are tourists, porcelain shops, exhibitions, auction houses, antique markets and porcelain collectors. These main groups exist in national markets as well as international markets. Through the development of Jingdezhen s porcelain industry from 1990s, the market has become more mature. Porcelain businessmen are in every city in China and every country abroad. Therefore, proportions of buyer groups are similar within and out of China. Thirdly, the entire Jingdezhen porcelain market is made up with nine big porcelain markets. They are Porcelaintown, Jingxiuchangnan, Fanjiajing, Guomao, Shaojiwu, Lianshebeilu, Xindu, Jinchangli and Laochang. These are the main buyer markets, with very clear divisions of porcelain production and with distinctive functional or technical porcelain types. For example Fanjiajing specialises in reproduction of ancient porcelain and Guomao with appliqué decorative and daily wares. The geographic proximity of a particular porcelain type will increase of the level of competition, which leads to improvement in quality and innovation. Fourthly, different buyer groups aim for different types of markets. The features and characteristics of different porcelain markets make sourcing and purchasing easier for national and international buyers. For example, from Figure 10, porcelain collectors will go to Lianshebeilu as that is the professional market for famous artwork which will increase in value over time. Porcelain shops outside Jingdezhen 71

81 might need to cover all divisional markets in order to demonstrate variety for their customers. Fifthly, auction houses and antique markets should actually be excluded from the group list as the Jingdezhen market here is about porcelain production, not about existing antique. Therefore, if the two groups appeared in the list as dominant groups, this is where cheating and bribery occur most frequently and would be harmful to the customers and damaging to Jingdezhen s porcelain image. It is a very serious issue that should really be taken good care of by policy-maker(s) Buyer Behaviours in Clusters Figure 11: Transformation of Buyer Behaviours: Roles, Locations, and Sourcing Channels Figure 11 presents the transformation of buyer behaviour in terms of roles, locations and sourcing channels. The researcher was surprised by the interviewees in that most of them received very little education and were poor in literacy. However, they were rich in life experience and maintained very broad and in-depth knowledge about national and international geography and the system of the porcelain industry. From the key categories about the buyer market, there are three sets of loops which differentiate Jingdezhen s porcelain buyers from buyers in other industries, e.g. construction materials. The first cycle is the role transformation. The logic of transformation by the majority of porcelain stakeholders is: firstly they come from other sectors as villagers, and went to Jingdezhen to stay with relatives and family (Nepotism) for learning crafts techniques. Then when they become skillful, they often go out to start their own businesses by creating their own production, and when they become bigger and make good money, they will aim for more prosperity by selling their porcelain overseas. Finally, they might wind up with a porcelain shop or shops outside 72

82 Jingdezhen. From the interviews, it seems a more common transformation in the buyer market and it also closely links with their status in life with age and life expectation. For example, the age group for exhibition cannot be too young or too old too young, then you might have enough money to run exhibitions through cooperation; too old, you might desire a more secure and stable life. Therefore, porcelain shops could provide a relatively stable and secure life, with much more profit possible compared to workshop owners. There were people who jump forward and backward among the roles while seeking fortune. The second loop was on geographical locations. The villagers went to Jingdezhen for porcelain related activities (the local people skip this stage), and when they found better opportunities outside Jingdezhen they will leave, normally to hold national exhibitions around China. They stay in one city for couple of months, up to a year, and then they move onto the next place. When they build up a buyer s network, they will find holding exhibitions overseas will make good money and they go overseas to South Asia, the USA, and Europe etc. for better profit. The loop of location transformation relates to the margin of profit directly. More experience is required to moving onto the next level of location. The results of continually transferring between locations are: taking the family with kids around impact is children receiving good education; when they make money, they will build houses back home first it might be a compensation for unstable working environment and local culture norms; good porcelain dealers manage to buy houses in every city they go; market saturation leads to higher instability and higher mobility; traders cooperate to run a shop or hold a exhibition as the investments are huge. The final loop is about transformation of sourcing channels. The buyers normally start with existing porcelain markets when they have no internal relationship or very little relationship with the porcelain makers, so they will go to the market for more variety and exploration. Once they get familiar with the market and form business networks with producers in Jingdezhen, they might go to private workshops for two reasons: one is cheaper and stable sourcing; the second is for more unique porcelain ware. Many private workshops get their fame from the outlets, and then disappear from the market in order to protect their unique production and secure the benefits of their customers. When the buyer becomes big enough, they will try to contract with private kilns and buy all production from a particular kiln. By doing this, they could avoid plagiarism and similarity of products in the market. When they grow in size, they will start to source similar types of porcelain from different ceramic production centres to gain broader variety and cheaper but better quality. For example, they might sell a Chaozhou ceramic dining set as Jingdezhen-made to gain more profit. When they become very big and don t care about the costs, they will start to buy from buyers. Antique markets are for big investors. The loop of sourcing channels transformed along with the ability and capital of individual buyers, which is logical in the market as well. However, it does not necessary mean that who buy from buyers cannot buy from private workshops. When they become bigger in size, they will have more variety of sourcing channels and they can jump around. The features of sourcing channel transformation are: market demand drives, 73

83 buyers buy porcelains that meet the demand of their market, they might go in person (nearly every buyer start with going to Jingdezhen by themselves, and when they build their network they make phone call orders External Business Environment Figure 12: Impact of External Business Environment on the Porcelain Industry The third figure out of the key finding is about impact of the external business environment on the porcelain industry (see Figure 12). Under the external business environment, there are six influential groups which have tight relationship with the industry as external factors. They include: firstly, strong overseas competitors. The porcelain industry in Jingdezhen is relatively small comparing to other porcelain production centres around the world, such as Korea, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands etc. The industrialisation and level of innovation are much more advanced there than Jingdezhen porcelain. However, compared to the impact of national competitors, they have much less impact on Jingdezhen s porcelain industry due to the demand conditions and taste differences. Strong national competitors includes Chaozhou (and Foshan), Liling and Zibo. These porcelain centres are good at contemporary daily ware and decorative porcelains. Some (such as Foshan) have specialised within architecture ware, such as ceramic tiles. The sizes of these centres are far larger than Jingdezhen; they compete with Jingdezhen in the area of daily wares, decorative porcelain and reproduction. The third group is the local government which is the second most important external factor beside customers. Throughout history, the government played a very important role in the upgrading and development of Jingdezhen porcelain. For example, the prosperity of the porcelain industry in Jingdezhen during the Qing Dynasty was due to an officer named Tang Ying, who was the royal officer in charge of porcelain production during that time. Tang Ying had the 74

84 management skills to organise production as well; he was very interested in porcelain production techniques and spent a lot of time studying it. In comparison, the local government failed in many important interventions and the public lost their confidence. Customers as the fourth group represent the market demand of porcelain wares from Jingdezhen. Sophisticated customers are the most direct driver of industry upgrading, the same as how the preference of the royal family will influence porcelain production in terms of style, patterns, transformation and innovation. The fifth group is the opportunity seekers including overseas artists and businessmen. They are the window to Jingdezhen who come and experience the culture and have introduced Jingdezhen ware back to their home country as artists or businessmen. The last group is education and academic support. In Jingdehzen, there is no good university and the ceramic institutes only teach industrial art and porcelain making with no good major taught in porcelain management. The most influential phenomena to the industry recently are: cut-throat competition, plagiarism with copyright issues, corruption, cheating and misrepresenting fake porcelains as antiques, increases in production costs, and the global financial crisis and its effects on capital markets. Under the impact of the six key groups in the external environment and the pressures of external events and phenomena, the market has several outcomes as the result. First, the market started to reduce costs and keep prices down to compete, dealing with the case of plagiarism and the financial crisis. Secondly, the industry started to upgrade their production by improving the quality of production; thus they could compete with overseas and national competitors and satisfy sophisticated customers. Thirdly, due to the capital economy and increase in production costs, they shrunk in size and hired no one other than family members and relatives. Fourthly, the producers reduced profit by half mainly due to the financial crisis and the demand dropping dramatically. Fifthly, Jingdezhen started to hold an international ceramic fair (expo) every year, with the ceramic fair attracting many opportunity seekers and support from porcelain institutes inside and outside China. Many famous porcelain artists come from around the world to exchange and share knowledge. Sixthly, they developed new ceramic ware beyond reproduction. Famous artists, teachers and students from porcelain institutes became the main force which drives the development of new ceramic or contemporary ceramic ware to satisfy new groups of customers, and to gain competitive advantage they must also avoid cheating and corruption in reproduction. Seventhly, the size of the business population was reduced to 1/3 due to the financial crisis and increase in production costs, and they could barely make a living or a deficit, so many people got out of the business. Finally, they increased innovation activities, in effort to gain competitiveness, avoid plagiarism and survive during the financial crisis. The impact of government intervention did not seem very active as when the industry experienced an economic downturn, there was no evidence to show any positive government intervention in changing the situation. Although the international ceramic fair is organised by the government, not every sector of porcelain craftsmen can participate and gain benefit out of it other than famous artists. 75

85 5.1.4 Government Intervention Figure13: Government Intervention vs. Public Expectations In Figure 12, the government seems to not have a positive influence on Jingdezhen s porcelain industry. Figure 13 above shows a list of key events introduced by the government and comparing government actions according to the events and the reaction and expectation of the public, especially the porcelain practitioners. First, the relocation of markets: since the early 2000s, the government considered the gas kilns in residential areas were very dangerous to residents. Therefore, they announced in local TV channels for a long time saying they would remove many porcelain markets from the town centre, with plans to move them out to the suburbs which were an hour s drive from the town centre. The porcelain businesses in the traditional markets started to purchase houses and shops in Xindu and Porcelain Town. In the end, the government just moved Shaojiwu and Laochang (still in the process), and could not move Fanjiajing (because the villagers there were tricky). It turns out the government fooled the public with incorrect information. The public expect them to be creditable with execution and consistency. In this issue, the government failed this expectation. The porcelain practitioners then developed a very low confidence with their local government. Second, when the government planned Xindu and Porcelain Town, it just invited some people (not sure if they were porcelain producers) and designed the towns without thorough planning and consultative modification. Thus, many problems can be found in Xindu and Porcelain Town. In Xindu, the shops are not tall enough for big porcelain making, while in Porcelain Town, there is no place for drying under-glazed wares. The public expected the government to use scientific planning with a long-term orientation, and to create a sensible and functional design with integrity. Due to the poor design, there are very few producers 76

86 running workshops in Xindu and Porcelain Town; it is considered a big waste in terms of space and money. Third, the government stress on housing resulted in giving land to build luxury apartment in the town centre, close to the traditional porcelain markets. However, they did not plan a good location for their backbone industry; therefore, the rent in the traditional markets increased ten to twenty fold over the past ten years. Addressing this issue, the government held back and did nothing to ease the porcelain producer s woes. The producers expected the government to monitor rental price with formal paper work for renting and regulations and laws made to avoid exploitation from landlords. The producers also expected the government to think further for its backbone industry in order to upgrade Jingdezhen s porcelain industry. However, the government did not really recognise the importance of porcelain production as a whole, especially the daily ware and reproduction sectors which employed the majority of porcelain workers. Fourth, the government had very little communication with the general public. They do communicate with famous artists, and take their advice. However, good advice from the lower level of the public was ignored (which is actually the core of the problem). The general practitioners expected the government to take their advice as a whole without bias and take actions accordingly. However, once again the government failed their expectations. Fifth, the government, led by Mayor Shu, dissolved the state-owned factories in the early 2000s without any compensation for the displaced workforce. The ten state-owned factories was the icon of Jingdezhen which specialised in different area of porcelain making. The public expected the government to protect the factories as once the factories closed down, they could not function as large production unit, and could not maintain distinctive features and advantages. A better solution beside dissolution is to employ scientific management strategies and revive the factories. However, the government seemed not particularly interested in porcelain at that time. Finally, copyright problems remain the biggest issue in Jingdezhen. The government was able to protect the famous artists with good supporting and grading system; however, they paid little attention to the reproduction sector. The public expected the government would treat all craftsmen and their divisions fairly. The government as an overseer of the city should take care of this issue seriously and try hard to eliminate faking and bribery in order to protect the city s image and the industry. In all the six listed issues from Figure 13, the government failed in its role to the industry for all significant issues and events. Failure of government intervention is one of the biggest issues stopping the whole industry from upgrading, as the internal and external market lack government regulation and control. If the government continues to fail the public, the relationship between the two will cause big problems to the city and its industry. The development of faking porcelain is one of these signs. 77

87 5.1.5 Cluster Internal Network Figure 14: Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster Internal Network Core and Supporting Industries Figure 14 is relatively straight-forward. Porcelain as the only backbone industry of Jingdezhen has a group of key supporting industries. Due to the distribution of population, the porcelain-related population occupies over 50% of Jingdezhen s total population. This is very unique around the world. The supporting industries include: white clays, drawing and carving supplies, chemicals (glazes and colouring), kilns and firing, wrapping and boxes, porcelain transportation, hospitalities and other. The supporting industries depend on porcelain production. When the economy is booming, they benefit from the prosperity of porcelain production; in an economy downturn, they are influenced by reduction in demand. Not only is it the supporting industries, but all sorts of businesses who serve people from the industry are affected. There are some network features of the porcelain industry with their supporting industries. First of all, a free market; in ancient times, all industries in Jingdezhen were controlled by different clans and regional labour unions. However, this phenomenon has been reduced to minimum. The majority of producers are concerned more about quality and price trade-off. There is more competition and less guanxi; quality leads demand. The relationship of porcelain as a core industry with supporting industries is like the domino effect. Once the porcelain reacts to change, all the relevant and supporting industries will be impacted after it. They are inter-dependent with the porcelain industry; therefore, they are inter-dependent on each other. 78

88 5.1.6 Cluster Population Study Figure 15: Porcelain Cluster Population Structure Figure 15 is about the porcelain cluster population structure. As mentioned in the previous section, about 50% of the total Jingdezhen population is in porcelain-related industries. According to the diagram above (Figure 15), the total population size is represented by the biggest box and the porcelain related industries are in circles. The overall population characteristics are: 50% of the total Jingdezhen population has Fuzhou origin. Fuzhou is a village close to Jingdezhen and Fuzhou people move to Jingdezhen for porcelain production, with a history stretching over hundreds of years. The 50% of Fuzhou origin in Jingdezhen entered every sector of business, including fruit selling, construction, clothing, etc. Within the porcelain industry, the population has a very high level of mobility and instability; they are more like fortune seekers and do not stay in one position for long time as presented in Figure 11, especially as the salaries for craftsmen are very low and the labour contracts are mostly part-time. For period of time, craftsmen might be fighting to survive and seek opportunities wherever to make good money. There are six major subpopulations in Jingdezhen s porcelain industry: Villagers, low educated, young adults, unemployed, redeployed, and college graduates. The villagers are the biggest group among them. Villagers seeking development in cities are not limited to Jingdezhen, but all around China. They rent out farmland and work in Jingdezhen to avoid taking over the farmland by the government as a regulation. They might settle down in Jingdezhen, or at the end go back for farming this depends on market conditions and demand for porcelain production. The second largest group is low educated. They are as big as the villagers, but cause problems in the industry. Most of them have a lack of sensitivity 79

89 for public image by playing cards at work and talking very loudly in all occasion. They are the group which damages the porcelain image and Jingdezhen city s image outside of Jingdezhen, especially in overseas exhibition markets. The villagers have mostly a low level of education, constituting the unemployed and redeployed from state-owned factories (in groups of nearly the same size). College graduates from ceramic institutes in Jingdezhen and around China are the more successful craftsmen and business owners. Only a small part of this population has been redeployed from factories. Many of them become well-known artists. The young adults are mainly junior high school graduates and some even do not finish junior high school. They will have been arranged by parents or relatives to go to Jingdezhen for porcelain making. Normally they go to workshops run by relatives, family or friends. The young adults are from villages or local people Divisions of Market Specialisation Figure 16: Traditional Divisions in Porcelain Technique Specialisations Figure 16 presents the traditional divisions in porcelain technique specialisations. There are two groups of specialists. One is the state-owned factories (1950s to 2000s) and the other is local specialists (formed over hundreds years ago and transformed over time). The specialisations of the ten state-owned factories are retained by redeployed craftsmen from factories and have become streams of production characteristic of Jingdezhen porcelain arts. The list includes: Jianguo factory with high temperature colour glaze; arts factory (Yishu) with famille rose; Renmin with blue-and-white ware; Hongguang with ling lung. These four types form the most famous characteristic types of Jingdezhen porcelain today. The list also includes: Guangming with blue-and-white ling lung by combining the technique of blue-andwhite with ling lung technique, mostly applied to kitchen ware now: Hongqi factory with 80

90 under-glazed; Hongxing, Yuzhou and Jingxing factories with daily ware and finally Dongfeng with pots. During the planned economy, there was a lack of management strategies to organise production and manage people. For a very long period of time, no matter how much work you had done and achieved, all workers are treated as no different which decreased their productivity and finally all ten factories were closed down with significant deficits. The second section is about private producers by location. People from Duchang specialise in over-glazed famille rose and patterns. Boyang specialises in carving and figures. Jingdezhen locals specialise in over-glazed famille rose and blue-and-white ware. Leping is famous for flowers and birds while Fuzhou is good at blue-and-white and Korean style. Most craftsmen could name the features of each regional group as even now they still pass on their techniques to relatives, families and people from the same village, town or city. Therefore, the patterns in divisions of porcelain technique are relatively stable with slight increases or decreases in a particular workforce. The groups in the lists are the five biggest groups in porcelain production. It is not a complete list. Moreover, their specialisations are not limited as presented in the specialisation list, but the key categories of specialisation are highlighted according to the groups Cluster Incubation and Breeding Figure 17: Contemporary Porcelain Cluster Incubation Timeline Figure 17 presents the timeline of Jingdezhen s contemporary porcelain cluster. There are three phrases that are important to cluster incubation with key movement in thoughts, politics and economics. From the chart above, in early 1900s, there is the modernisation movement. 81

91 During this time, China was just released from Qing dynasty and had the opportunity to learn about the world since it had very little connection with the outside world due to the closed door policy by the Qing Empire. People were interested in everything from overseas and considered them all good and advanced. Therefore, the new government and the intellectuals depressed the value of Chinese traditions and brought new thoughts and technologies from abroad, as well as sending a considerable group of people overseas to get education. They valued machine and machine-made goods, while depressing and decreasing handcrafting. In 1949, there was a big political transformation in China by the formation of the People s Republic of China. China started its first formal industrialisation since They established state-owned factories in Jingdezhen, bought production plants from overseas, depressed handcrafting further by remaining a very tiny group of potters to produce reproduction and traditional porcelain to gain foreign currencies. During 1949 and 1980s, China was under a planned economy based on the practices of Russia and guidance from Communism. Since the early 1990s, there have been the 2 nd modernisation and capitalist modernisation. China turned away from a planned economy towards a market economy with free competition. The effect of the 2 nd modernisation lasts until now. Since the early 1990s, people have started to realise the importance of national identity and recognised the treasure in traditions. There was a huge group of academics sent by the government to protect inheritance and heirs. The demand from abroad and within China for handcrafts increased dramatically. Jingdezhen retained and increased hand crafted production in self-driven private sectors, since at that time the state-owned factories were suffering from significant deficits with only the Arts factory barely sustained in that time period. Finally in late 1990s, most state-owned factories stopped production and started dissolution. The state-owned factories represented the machine-made porcelain production, as before the factories there were no machine production plants in Jingdezhen. Therefore, along with the collapse of stateowned factories, machine-made ceramic devalued. Today, 98% of total porcelain businesses are SMEs, and the remaining 2% are big businesses who are also private-owned, not stateowned. 82

92 5.1.9 Sustainability and Effectiveness Comparison between Markets Figure 18: Comparison between Local-embedded and Government Planned Markets Figure 18 is the last figure among the nine, but not the least. It compares local embedded markets and government planned markets in Jingdezhen. There are three markets representing local embedded markets: Fanjiajing, Guomao, and Jinchangli; while another three are planned: Xindu, Jinxiuchangnan, and Porcelain Town. The two groups are evaluated in a list of measurements developed from cluster researchers from Beijing as well as interviewees in Jingdezhen. The measurements measure the favourable factors of successful clusters which have sustainability marked by yes or no. The list includes historical opportunities, geographic proximity, international business activities, local entrepreneurship, less government intervention, globalisation, convenience in transportation and goods location. On the left-hand side, all favourable factors are achieved, and on the right-hand side for the planned markets, the measurements are totally not satisfied except one which is hard to make a decision. According to Figure 17, during the 1990s private SMEs started to produce handcrafts without government support. Fanjiajing became the first handcrafts market in Jingdezhen naturally as it is close to railways and bus stations. Then as more people came to run hotels and restaurants and potters came to get jobs, businessmen came to reach the buyers. Therefore, it had a historical opportunity to emerge; while the planned markets do not have such historical opportunities as they are too far away from the town centre and are very inconvenient for transportation. The government rearranged tourist buses to stop at Xindu after they planned Xindu market; however, people still like to go to the town centre for more choices and better prices. Regarding the geographic proximity, state-owned factories which later rented out to 83

93 private workshops are all close to Fanjiajing, even though Fanjiajing was originally only porcelain workshops. As it is close to the production sites and formed a close geographical business network, it has geographic proximity. In comparison, the planned markets are far from all the supporting industries, workshops and customers. Regarding international business activities, government planned exhibitions and cultural events are held in Jinxiuchangnan and Porcelain Town to attract buyers; however, excluding the big events, very few people go shopping in Jinxiuchangnan. At an opposite, Fanjiajing passively waits for the buyers to come, no matter whether national or international buyers. There are no planned international events or business activities, yet many foreign traders purchase from Fanjiajing, Guomao and Jinchangli. As presented in previous figures, 98% in this industry are SMEs which shows a very high degree of local entrepreneurship. Fanjiajing is where many of them started from. However, most of the businesses in Xindu and Porcelain Town are producers that moved from Fanjiajing, Shaojiwu, Laochang, not new entrepreneurs. It is clear that the level of government intervention in planned markets is high, and local-embedded markets receive a low level of intervention or negative intervention. Globalisation can be observed by the colour of people in the markets: in Jinchangli, there are many foreign buyers and tourists for contemporary porcelain, while there are not many foreign buyers in the planned markets. Convenience in transportation and good locations are covered above. 5.2 Integrative Discussion of the Conceptual Findings with Field Literatures This section will include a brief literature review of key underlying theories and research from the field(s) that compares the existing bodies of knowledge and the findings from this research project, which will be used to identify the limitations and contributions of each particular key category (or finding) Cluster Theories with Competitiveness Clusters have a long history of being part of the economic landscape, with geographic concentrations of trades and companies in particular industries dating back for centuries (Porter, 2000). This literature review will not cover the whole evolutionary process, but some key classics and pioneers in the field. Cluster research can trace back to Adam Smith (Chen, 2007a). Smith raises the issue of division of labour through observation (Smith, 1776). He says The greatest improvements in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour. Division of Labour is an essential characteristic of firms in clusters; it is also a very important finding from the field data from Jingdezhen. It indicates the relationship between firms in clusters, as every firm has different functions within clusters. From the late 1800s to early 1900s, there was Alfred Marshall and Alfred Weber. Marshall considered culture, climate and custom should be considered as drivers or factors when studying organisations, and these three drivers are the key features of Jingdezhen s traditional cultural cluster. Marshall also states that the local atmosphere characterises industrial districts (Marshall cited by Aspers, 1999). Marshall did not expand 84

94 atmosphere into more detail; for example, innovation (Chen, 2007a). He might consider factors work efficiently only with other components. Marshall is one of the earliest to study the emerging and dynamic industrial districts. Alfred Weber had a historical analysis education background. He maintained a commitment to the philosophy of history traditions (Fearon, n.d.). His theory of the location of industries is the foundation of Economic Geography. The theory is mainly about the minimising transportation costs and labour requires analysis. His theory about agglomeration was also covered by Marshall (Krugman, 1990). Agglomeration is an economical phenomenon in the early development stage of clusters. In Jingdezhen, agglomeration of contemporary porcelain clusters started from the end of 1980s and early 1990s and it naturally formed the markets and attracted demand from inside and out of China. Agglomeration has been covered by a lot of Chinese cluster researchers such as, Wu (2006), Chen (2005) and An (2006). Beside Weber, Hoover is another key economist who contributes in industrial location theory (1937 cited by Bergman & Feser, 1999). He discussed the differences between urbanisation and localisation economies in location of industries theory. In the case of Jingdezhen porcelain, the key porcelain markets formed the new town centre which differs from ancient town centre. The industry is also local-embedded with a history of over 2200 years. Under the world economy, forming new theories becomes extremely popular among scholars. However, Krugman went back to neoclassic economics. He (1990) states that many issues that are currently framed as issues of international trade should instead be viewed as issues of regional economics and economic geography. Based on the theories of Marshall and Weber, Krugman developed a two-region, two-sector general equilibrium model of location involving transportation costs; whereas, transportation costs are often ignored in classic economic models. Under his model, when transportation costs are high and economic scale is weak, manufacturers may choose to produce close to the market; when transportation costs are low and economic scale is strong, manufacturers will have initiatives to concentrate in one region. The model is neat and simple. Convenience of transportation was mentioned several times by interviewees from Jingdezhen; they stressed this factor as a key component for breeding Fanjiajing s reproduction market which led to success. Michael Porter is another key contributor to both cluster theories as well as the concept of competitive advantage. He did not begin his career with competitive advantage, but came to this topic reluctantly (1990b). The idea of the competitiveness of nations was sparked from the debate about what is competitiveness (Porter, 1990b). At that time, a standard definition of competitiveness was not available; moreover, there was no accepted theory to explain it. That is why Porter started to explore the competitive advantage of nations and established this theory. The core of the CAN theory is the principles of competitive strategy in individual industries. In 1998, under the influence of neoclassical economics, he added the location of competition, socioeconomics of clusters, and clusters and economic geography. At the same time, Porter also expanded his study targets from only developed countries to developing countries. This may be due to the significant development of third world countries 85

95 experienced during the 1990s. By 1998, Porter published the book Clusters and the New Economics of Competition (Porter, 1998a). He systematically introduced the New Economics of Competition theory and enhanced the cluster theory from In Clusters and the New Economics of Competition, Porter explained what a cluster is (Porter, 1998a/b). Shortly afterwards, Porter s cluster theory became the principle theory for local cluster initiatives in many countries, regions and cities (Chen, 2006 & Porter, 2000). He then combined new and old perspectives in clusters and published Location, Competition, and Economic Development: Local Clusters in a Global Economy (2000). He comments that cluster s advantages lie outside companies and even outside their industries, residing instead in the locations at which their business units are based. Governments should not attempt to create entirely new clusters, but reinforce and build on established and emerging clusters. That applies to Jingdezhen s porcelain, which is not a new cluster but a cluster with a long history of prosperity. Because clusters has their complexity (Chen, 2005), it is impossible that one researcher could manage every aspects on clusters; it is the same to Porter. Some areas that Porter did not cover or did not expand on include: first, other contemporary researchers contribution in the field, such as innovation; second, historical development patterns of traditional clusters; third, other researchers contribution from different cultural backgrounds; and fourth, business communication and relationships in different cultural situations. In the findings of Jingdezhen porcelain, the way to gain competitiveness in the market is by improving the quality of production and innovation in production procedures and porcelain making techniques Chinese Cluster Research and Chinese Traditional Clusters Chinese cluster research started from the 1990s. During the last twenty years, they have made some achievements in this field. First of all, the number of academies specialising in cluster research has increased (Gu, 2003). Information exchange and sharing on cluster development between Chinese government and other governments has increased. A number of organisations for cluster research have formed throughout China. Since 2003, some cluster research projects were launched by the Chinese government based on theory application in China. For example, one is about Geography Economics Theory of New Clusters and Empirical Research in China. The project coordinator is Wang Jici, a professor from Peking University. She has already published more than 100 academic articles on clusters domestically and overseas. The project includes researchers from Economics, Sociology, Management and International business. Most of the current Chinese cluster research is based on topics from this project. Governments play an extremely important role in promoting cluster research and education (An, 2006). The problems with current Chinese cluster research is: first, most of the Chinese cluster literature reviewed is just theory application, rather than theory confirmation or exploring new areas in cluster research. The applied theories and methodology are quite similar from one to another. Second, a lot of cases used are high-tech or new science industries; traditional Chinese clusters like arts, food and 86

96 handcrafts have not gained much attention. Third, the strategies for clustering are quite similar and generic due to narrow sampling areas (Gu, 2007). The framework of cluster theory by Porter is more about how to organise a successful industrial cluster, rather than finding out how a successful industry complex or regional economy emerges (Motoyama, 2008). Motoyama argues that in order to find a solution, to achieve development lies with historical analysis according to unique indigenous capacity. Only then do we have the ability to distinguish between which part of its development was accidental and what could be applicable to other regions. Roveda and Vecchiato (Roveda and Vecchiato, 2008) stated that the district stakeholders share the path of evolution; therefore, building scenarios could help them align their strategies with action plans. It could also be the same case that clusters in a region share the path of evolution because of its inter-relationship. Clusters of the same type under a similar regional milieu share a similar pattern of development. There are many researchers pursuing in-depth, historical studies and analysing them, but most of the historical analysis of clusters is within the three decades (Feldman and Francis, 2004, Hallencreutz and Lundequist, 2003, Li, 2005). China has many featured traditional industries along her 5000-year history, such as silk in Suzhou and porcelain in Jingdezhen. Since the Qing dynasty, China tried hard to adopt Western social and economical systems; however, with a strong cultural background, the practices in China have huge difficulties unless they adjust the system to Chinese style. Currently, the majority of Chinese cluster research is based on Porter s CAN diamond analysis system, for example Wu (2006), Zhu (2006, p.57) and most authors who publish in the Industrial Clusters in China magazine ( ). Moreover, many of the clusters that have been studied are those initiated by the government after Because all these industries are quite young, agglomeration at the early cluster development stage has become one of the most popular topics. Beside new clusters, organic traditional clusters are also covered. They are those that were born naturally and have a long history of development. However, the research focus is their later development after 1949 (Zhu, 2006, Liu, 2005). Many organic traditional clusters used to be industry pioneers. They contain enormous treasures in business spirit, culture and practices (Wu, 2006). Local entrepreneurs in these clusters take the business spirit for granted; researchers considered it regional secrets owned by businessmen in particular regions. Sophisticated research on traditional clusters is needed, in order to discover this regional business spirit from history and develop assessments to evaluate business practices in China. That is the purpose of conducting Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster research and employing Grounded Theory at the same time, as there is not much guidance for traditional culture cluster research. Another reason is to expect to gain a more holistic picture from the raw data. 87

97 5.2.3 SMEs, Entrepreneurship, and Financial and Production and Management SMEs are the key elements in the development of national economies in developed countries (Ðorđević et al., 2010).The research field of SMEs has been emerging over the course of several decades; today, it refers to small and medium-size enterprises. The research on SMEs was firstly considered to be strategic, and then more recent research distinguished SME business activities from MNEs, whereas in the 1980s to 1990s there was a focus on MNEs; the big multinational firms. How big is an SME? Different countries and different researchers presented many scales without standardisation. The reason behind this might be the feature and structure of each national economy. For example, it is inappropriate to use the same scale for China and New Zealand (NZ) as every medium size city in China has a greater population than the total of NZ. Therefore, differences should be included. In Ireland, the SMEs are businesses that have less than 250 employees, the same in the UK. In Australia, the bar is downgraded to less than 100 employees. Depending on different approaches in SMEs research, researchers got different figures over size. As the discussion of SMEs in terms of size with business performance and effectiveness of strategic application varies, the topic was not yet mature enough to form any standard (Cunningham and Rowley, 2010). In Asian countries, there is a table developed by Cunning and Rowley (2010) presenting the definition of SMEs in different countries and districts in terms of sector category and criteria/ official definition. 88

98 Table 9: Definitions of SME in Asia countries By reviewing Table 9 above, the sector category and criteria in Asia SMEs research is very different from each other. The outcomes of research in Malaysia might be unsuitable for Japan, because the definitions of SMEs in sectors and criteria are very different. Moreover, the business condition of Japan has a better foundation when compared to Malaysia, and Japan is a developed nation while Malaysia is still at the developing stage. The lessons learned in Malaysia might not be applicable in Japan. SMEs and local entrepreneurship are a combination in research. Local entrepreneurship in different countries has some guiding principles which are the same across countries; however, the governing culture, tradition and customs seasoned local entrepreneurship with its own special characteristics across nations, even cities and towns. Therefore, the characteristics and features of Jingdezhen SMEs and local entrepreneurship should be similar as well as different to the rest in the world. In Jingdezhen, there are mostly small, family owned workshops or outlets selling their own production, just like every shop will have a production line. They hire stands rather than a whole shop for displaying goods, due to high rental prices and need to stay in the market. There are many husband and wife shops which could be considered as a post-modernism phenomenon; however, it is actually marked by high production costs and insufficient capital to employ people, and tends to stay very low profit. As the majority of producers are 89

99 relatively small in size, their productions are in handcrafting and casting. However, there are some big producers who manage to run a production chain in handcrafting while a group of potters specialised in one procedure only also have their own kilns. Most of the outlet owners started from craftsmanship. The spirit within entrepreneurship includes innovation, challenges and diligence, business management skills (inventory, price management etc.) and business philosophy. The local entrepreneurs are drivers of cluster formation it aligns with discussion of favourable factors of successful clusters from Section In SMEs articles (Cunningham and Rowley, 2010), they indicate that difficulty in financial support is one of the key challenges faced by SMEs. This aligns with the situation in Jingdezhen. The study on management systems and HRM practices are also two focuses by recent researchers that could met the need of SMEs in Jingdezhen (Ðorđević et al., 2010, Cunningham and Rowley, 2010). The research on continuous innovation and performance management of SMEs in clusters that helps to foster cooperation will be a potential area of research to the SMEs in Jingdezhen (Carpinetti, 2007) Innovation A nation s competitiveness depends on its capacity of industrial innovation and upgrading (Porter, 1990, p.73). Porter (1990) states that much innovation is mundane and incremental, depending more on accumulation of small insights and advances than on a single, major technological breakthrough. However, breakthroughs are inevitable during the innovation progress. Ketels (2004) states that in modern competition, innovation occurs in nonsequential interactions of different companies, universities and research institutions. The question here is how about within old competition? Innovation is one essence in the local atmosphere of clusters. It ties with productivity and value-added production. Wang (2005) states there are three situations that China is undertaking at the moment: First, improvement of education and life standard. There is a pool of demand for innovative products. Second, innovation is a necessity for upgrading local industries. Third, big cities are losing competitive advantage in the manufacturing sectors; they need to innovate. Innovation has been an important research area in the Western world since the 1990s (Chen, 2007b). There are enormous research contributions in the field. Chen (2006, 2007a/b) discussed international and domestic innovation research in China. His research provides theoretical support to innovation studies in China. Although the research on innovation starts in Western countries, it does not mean that only Westerners have the spirit of innovation. Most distinctive ancient inventions are actually from the East: Greece, India and China Brand Management Successful branding adds value to the product, such as Coca Cola, which has occupied the top position of the world s top 500 brands ranking for many years. Brands are a by-product of core products or services, and have their own value that the public would like to pay more for 90

100 the brand. Luxury brands such as LV, Gucci in the fashion industry their value is not on raw material, but tastes and status created through their branding strategies by sustaining high levels of awareness and tightly controlled brand diffusion in order to enhance exclusivity (Phau and Prendergast, 2000). Luxury is a main factor in differentiating a brand from the rest in a product category which achieved distinction in quality (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004). The porcelain industry in the traditional culture sector is where luxury brand strategies should be applicable. Similar to limited editions of every dress from the world s famous luxury brands, handcrafting cannot be repeated. Jingdezhen gained its fame since the Yuan Dynasty. In a contemporary cluster, the industry increases its reputation through porcelain shops and outlets in other cities and other countries. A good national and international city image becomes very important to secure market demand. However, currently the Jingdezhen porcelain city brand has been damaged by cruel price competition in the retail market, cheating, and plagiarism. Therefore, the branding that SMEs and the cluster should focus on is to create more quality brands out of the industry, to gather the best resources together to protect the porcelain image of Jingdezhen, and more importantly, to differentiate good quality porcelain from the rest. Franz is internationally-recognised porcelain brand in Jingdezhen; it used contemporary management and marketing strategies in their business planning. Moreover, their brand strategy was very successful. Franz has a history of less than ten years but is now operating outlets in 6000 sites in the world (Wu, 2009). The unique difference from Jingdezhen porcelain practitioners and Franz is Franz has its background in manufacturing and trading giftware since 1969 (not in the porcelain industry), where they built up their strength in international marketing skills though trading with overseas buyers. In 1991, they became the world s No.1 artwork manufacturer. During this time in artworks, beside Porcelain, Franz s team understood the market in different countries and was very familiar with different porcelain shapes in Western countries. They spent a decent amount of time developing their brand and technology. It took about eight years for Franz to move from concept to mass production in Jingdezhen in The brand nurturing process requires passion and good management in terms of financial capital, production and technology, human resources and time. It sets a good example for the rest of the porcelain branches in Jingdezhen, with the hope that they could reach what Franz had achieved through consistency in branding. 5.3 Chapter Summary This chapter covers the explanation of the nine figures of the key findings and relevant streams of literature at the same time. Through constant comparison between the key concepts of classic cluster research literature, from Adam Smith to the most recent Michael Porter, findings from this project are discussed. First of all, all the theories from literature match with the findings from Jingdezhen well; there is no single theory that goes against the 91

101 reality observed in Jingdezhen. Furthermore, the emerged theory from Grounded Theory is much broader in size and more in-depth and close-related to the situation in Jingdezhen. The next chapter will be a reflection of the researcher by recalling the entire process of conducting this project, in order to identify value and contributions, limitations of this research, and the future research potential. 92

102 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION This chapter will mainly discuss the value and contribution of the research achieved by identifying the innovative methodological design and application, as well the key contribution of the emerged theory. Second, limitations in terms of research design, field work, coding and memos as well as mapping will be developed for future development. According to the exploratory nature of Grounded Theory and intention of this research project, a more focused narrow area of research could be derived from this project. The following sections have more details. 6.1 Value and Contribution of the Research The value and contribution of this research can be divided into two areas: methodology and findings. In terms of methodology, this project has managed to make several contributions. First, there is no cluster research conducted using Grounded Theory. The researcher started researching clusters since 2007, and many research gaps were found, especially in research on traditional culture clusters. Through academic databases, there is no particular research in this area; therefore, the researcher started to plan by combining Grounded Theory with traditional clusters. Since there is no existing traditional cluster research theory or model to follow, the research naturally become explorative in nature. Grounded Theory was considered to be the most rigorous method in qualitative research and became a priority. However, merging Grounded Theory with cluster research is difficult. Glaser s and Strauss s research targets, as well as some applications in the information technology field were much more focused in a semi-closed to closed system most of the time, e.g. a hospital. Clusters are an open system and each of them has very specific and complicated networks and construction. All Grounded Theorists agreed that Grounded Theory is a very time and energy consuming. Some of them adapt to electronic coding and some contend that coding by researchers is the better way to get quality key categories. It is difficult to manage even in a closed-system; therefore, merging Grounded Theory with cluster research is a breakthrough. Second, there are four main data collection methods used together with Grounded Theory. They were: interviewing, observations, field notes, and historiography. Normally, Grounded Theory goes with one data collection method. The researcher combined a group of research methods for the purpose of gaining as rich as possible raw data from all channels that are available. Lehmann (2001) and Fernandez (2004) s model is then modified to include a data library (see Figure 9), which contains interviews and field notes, and put historiography in the extant literature due to its body. There are two streams of interviews; one stream from Beijing, and another from the field. The first stream of interviews was from cluster researchers in Beijing to get an idea about what had been achieved by Chinese researchers, to check if traditional clusters had been studied and the value of conducting this type of research. From all five interviews, the interviewees gave a very good and supportive feedback, expectations 93

103 of what would be the outcome of such research, and provided many possible research potential and directions. Through reconfirmation of the value of this project and the reality of current Chinese cluster research, the researcher went into the field with confidence in the following month in There are many forms of historiography taken from the field, including audio, photography, PowerPoint slides, government documents, books, journal articles, news articles etc. The data gained from triangulation using the research methods does complement each other for a more comprehensive presentation of this porcelain cluster. The value of findings is also included in Chapter Five along with discussions of field literature. First, there is no conflict between the findings from classical theories found in Sociology, Economics, and Management fields. The reality in Jingdezhen includes the key contributions of all pillars in cluster research, including Marshall, Krugman and Porter, from raw data and emerged categories along the coding procedure. It indicated that this research was of good quality. The quality was not made up by the researcher, but rooted in data. It is actually very hard to meet every single theory in this research field history, unless it is a very successful cluster and with very thorough data collection and analysis. Another key contribution is beyond theory confirmation; there are some key findings and areas worthy of exploration. The nine figures from the substantive theory are very rich and each one could become independent research topics. SMEs and branding, which are the most popular research topics, are the key areas identified by low educated craftsmen and businessmen. Therefore, the research of cluster SMEs and cluster branding should be at the centre of traditional clusters such as Jingdezhen s porcelain cluster. 6.2 Limitations As mentioned in Section 6.1, this research project was actually larger than expected. Therefore, there are many things that could be done better next time. In terms of research methods, the number of research methods could be reduced, to focus on one or two in addition to analytical methods such as Grounded Theory. This will make the project more manageable. In terms of the field work, this project only dealt with part of the raw data, not all of the data. As a guiding rule of Grounded Theory, when data met saturation, then there is no need of further coding. In the researcher s situation, as the field was very far away from the university, it was impossible to return many times for more information, and there was only one month for data collection (although 32 interviewees participated). Therefore, one regret is not being able to use all the data. Therefore, a case study might also be suitable. However, in terms of the size of data, it needs as long as a PhD degree to finish. Due to the limitation of a Master s thesis in length, the nine key figures out of the theory were not explored as much as expected. The figures could be discussed later in journal articles to explore possible further contribution with support from literature. 94

104 6.3 Further Research Possibilities On January 28 th 2011, the researcher met with a porcelain trader from Jingdezhen who was the biggest porcelain dealer in Xiamen. His collection of porcelain sales was very rich with the highest porcelain artwork selling for 2 million RMB; moreover, he was an investor of a porcelain workshop in Jingdezhen and goes back nearly every month for business. When the findings of this research project were shared, he pointed out two areas of particular need. Firstly was branding. It is not about branding of the city, but branding strategies applied to each division of porcelain specialisation to form their own brand and market this brand. Secondly, there was a need for knowledge management to sort the porcelain knowledge of Jingdezhen along a historical horizon, considering types of technology and patterns of each period of time. It is a huge project and one not possible to be conducted by any individual. The size of work is enormous, for example, from 1949 to 1990, there were over 6000 patterns produced by the Art factory alone. However, if the knowledge library was built up, it will benefit Jingdezhen as a whole to upgrade their entire porcelain production structure by retaining their traditions and techniques. The patterns in history could be used by all SMEs for over a hundred years without repetitiveness that is the size. Since this project is a big project, cooperation with researchers in China will be beneficial, especially cooperation with porcelain industry researchers who understand the industry. Once the model in Jingdezhen succeeds, it will then be able to set an example for other traditional cultural clusters in and out of China. Action research will be the next aim of this researcher by actually practicing the theories in the field, and it could form a research unit in Jingdezhen for cluster upgrading and providing training and counselling services for their practitioners. 95

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115 7. Appendices Table of Contents 7. Appendices Appendix I: Research Proposal Appendix II: Ethical Approval Documents Approved Ethical Approval Application Departmental Approval Ethical Committee Reference Code Conditional Approval of Human Ethics Committee Fully Approval by Human Ethics Committee Appendix III: Pre-research Documentary The Profiles of the Two Distinct Researchers in China Dr. Jici Wang, Professor Dr. Lili Fang, Anthropologist The Request for Collaboration Research Request to Dr. Jici Wang Request to Dr. Lili Fang Invitation Letters Invitation Letter from Peking University Invitation from Dr. Lili Fang (Translated) Appendix IV: Field Work Field Work in Beijing Peking University Campus Panjiayuan Antiques Market Interview Transcripts Field Work in Jingdezhen Photos at Field The Four Jingdezhen Porcelain Divisions- Samples Interview Transcripts Field Notes Beijing Field Note Jingdezhen Field Notes First Trial in Coding Translation of Interview One Coding I Coding II Theoretical Analysis Coding and Memos Jingdezhen interview 1, Shaojiwu Indicators Categories

116 7.5.2 Jingdezhen interview 2, Shaojiwu Indicators Categories Jingdezhen interview 3, Shaojiwu Indicators Categories Coding Memo 1 Jingdezhen interviews Beijing interview Indicators Categories Beijing interview Indicators Categories Beijing interview Indicators Categories Coding Memo 1 Bejing interviews Field Note 1: Beijing Indicators Categories Field Note 2: Jingdezhen Indicators Categories Field Note 3: Jingdezhen Indicators Categories Coding Memo 1 Field Notes Coding Memo 2 Jingdezhen interviews Coding Memo 3 Jingdezhen interviews Coding Memo 4 Jingdezhen interviews Coding Memo 5 Jingdezhen interviews Coding Memo 6 Jingdezhen interviews Coding Memo 7 Jingdezhen interviews Coding Memo 2 Beijing interviews Coding Memo 2 Field Notes Coding Memo 3 Field Notes Mapping and netting the key findings

117 7.1 Appendix I: Research Proposal Research Proposal for Master of Commerce Department of Management University of Otago Title: Exploration of Cluster Attributes in Traditional Cultural Clusters in China: The Case of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster By: Yuting (Jane) Zhuang Porter (1990) wrote that national prosperity is created, not inherited. The most effective way to build and maintain the competitive advantages of a nation or region is through innovation and upgrading in clusters. In the past twenty years, most cluster research focused on the development of traditional clusters after the Second World War, or new clusters initiated after the war (Audretsch & Feldman, 1996; Bergman & Feser, 1999; Chen, 2006; Wang & Tong, 2001). Although some traditional clusters have been referred to (Porter, 1990; Liu, 2005), there is a lack of analysis of the key factors of successful traditional clusters regarding their critical differentiator, namely their cultural and historical backgrounds. In the most significant research into business culture in China, Wu (2006) and some other scholars introduced the Zhejiang Model based on the success of entrepreneurs in that province; however, this relates almost entirely to industries or clusters initiated after In a presentation this year, Porter (2008) raised some of his recent findings in clusters and regional prosperity, indicating that there is no significant difference in positions between high-tech clusters and other clusters in terms of their impacts on regional job growth rates, salaries, and patenting. This is thus a suitable time to explore beyond industrial clusters. This thesis aims to reveal the unique attributes of cultural clusters, through analysis of the classical literature about the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster as well as raw data collected on site at Jingdezhen, including observation field notes and interviews. Because there is nearly no research into the nature of traditional culture clusters from a business perspective, research into the humanities in China can provide little analysis on the micro-economic phenomenon of clusters. Therefore, grounded theory would be the most suitable research methodology. It is a powerful method for collecting and analysing data, introduced by Glaser and Strauss in 1967 (Allan, 2003); it is considered one of the most rigorous research methods within qualitative research design. The proposed thesis would have three sections. Section I would be a discussion of ontology, epistemology, and methodology in management research, especially the contributors in cluster and regional economics research. It will also include a section 3

118 on Chinese researchers in management, economic, and arts that have some relevance to Chinese traditional cultural cluster research. Finally, there will be a chapter of self-assessment of ontology, epistemology, and methodology preferences. Section II will be the methodology design of the research project. It will start with a discussion of why grounded theory is the most suitable methodology to conduct this research. It will then be followed by a detailed design for data collection, analysis, and validation. The last part of Section II will present the findings from the data analysis. Section III will be the literature review of the current research on cultural clusters in the world. After the literature review, traditional cultural research will be positioned within the body of knowledge about clusters. Limitations and future research possibilities will also be discussed in this section. Because cluster is a relatively new concept, there is a scarcity of information from this perspective. This is particularly so in the case of traditional cultural clusters (a very recent development within this field). The porcelain industry in Jingdezhen is perhaps the best example worldwide of such a cluster, with a heritage of over two thousand years. A trip to Jingdezhen is a necessity in order to collect primary research data that is high in quality and relevance. It is also important to have close contact with Chinese experts in cluster research in order to develop a good understanding of current research carried out by Chinese scholars in this field. I have contacted two leading researchers in China. One is Professor Lili Fang, the author of the book Jingdezhen Private Kiln (2002), Director of the Anthropology Department at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. The other is Professor Jici Wang, one of the pioneers of Chinese cluster research, and Vice-Director of Economic Geography at Peking University. These two scholars could be the most important contributors to my topic; Dr Fang could provide strong raw material support while Dr Wang could advise on cluster research in China. Although there are many museums around the world displaying antique porcelain from Jingdezhen, the actual source city will still be the best place to explore the nature of the cluster s operation. It is, after all, the town that gave China its name in English, being the origin of china and china clay. This project would be significantly enhanced through collaborative research with Chinese researchers and a sufficient period of investigation in Jingdezhen itself. Eight weeks would be a good length of time to conduct collaborative research and data collection using grounded theory. I would intend to travel in September and October in order to have sufficient time to complete the preliminary discussion on philosophy of management research and the design of research method before the trip. I plan to finish the first draft during December, and complete the whole project by the end of February References: Alan G. 2003, A Critique of Using Grounded Theory as a Research Method, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, vol. 2, no. 1, pp Audretsch, D. & Feldman, M. 1996, Innovative Clusters and the Industry Life Cycle, 4

119 Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 11, pp Bergman E. & Feser, E. 1999, Industrial and Regional Clusters: Concepts and Comparative Applications, Regional Research Institute, WVU. Chen, L. 2006, Research on Innovation Mechanisms of Industrial Clusters, Industrial Clusters in China. Retrieved October, 23, 2007, from [in Chinese] Fang, L. 2002, Jingdezhen Private Kilns, People s Arts Press (China), Beijing. [in Chinese]. Liu, J. 2005, Jingdezhen Ceramic Industrial Cluster Analysis, Industrial Clusters in China, vol. 3, pp [in Chinese] Porter, M. 1990, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Harvard Business Review, vol. 90, no. 2, pp Porter, M. 2008, Clusters, Innovation, and Competitiveness: New Findings and Implications for Policy, EU Conference on Innovation and Clusters, Stockholm, Presentation on January 22, 2008, slide 26. Wang, J. & Tong, X. 2001, The Research Agenda of Local Clusters of Enterprises in China, Geography Economics, vol. 5, pp [in Chinese] Wu, D. 2006, On Industrial Clusters, Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing. [in Chinese] 5

120 7.2 Appendix II: Ethical Approval Documents Approved Ethical Approval Application APPLICATION TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO HUMAN ETHICS COMMITTEE FOR ETHICAL APPROVAL OF A RESEARCH OR TEACHING PROPOSAL INVOLVING HUMAN PARTICIPANTS 1. University of Otago staff member responsible for project: André M. Everett 2. Department: Management 3. Contact details of staff member responsible: Associate Prof. Dr. André Everett Department of Management Phone: Fax: aeverett@business.otago.ac.nz 4. Title of project: Exploration of Cluster Attributes in Traditional Cultural Clusters in China: The Case of the Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster 5. Brief description in lay terms of the purpose of the project: This project is intended to obtain data for the researcher s Masters thesis. This thesis aims to reveal the unique attributes of historical, culture-based clusters of industrial activity, through continuous and consistent collecting, analysising and comparing both classical literature and raw data (including observation, field notes, and interviews) by the instruction of Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Jindezhen is the traditional home of China s leading porcelain manufacturing. The research will include interviews with leading academic 6

121 researchers, librarians / archivists, and government officials at various levels in China. 6. Indicate type of project and names of other investigators and students: Staff Research Student Research Student researcher: Ms. Yuting (Jane) Zhuang Multi-Centre trial 7. Is this a repeated class teaching activity? Yes No If applying to continue a previously approved repeated class teaching activity, please provide Reference Number: - NA- 8. Intended start date of project: 1 st September 2008 Projected end date of project: 30 th October Funding of project. Is the project to be funded: (a) Internally (b) Externally 10. Aim and description of project: Because the concept of a cluster is relatively new, there is a scarcity of information from this perspective (Porter 1990). This is particularly so in the case of traditional cultural clusters (a very recent development within this field). The porcelain industry in the town of Jingdezhen, China, is perhaps the best example worldwide of such a cluster, with a heritage of over two thousand years (Embassy 2006) and a substantial historical record present in archives and museums. The products of this cluster, exported beginning in the 14th Century, are the origin of the name China ; the blue-and-white porcelain from Jingdezhen is what the Wedgwood family copied to establish the first porcelain manufacture in England in the late 1700s (Jiangxi 2007; Shan 2006). This research project involves a trip to Jingdezhen, Beijing, and potentially other locations in China, in order to collect primary research data that is high in quality and relevance. People, organisations, and archives in Jingdezhen will form the core of this part of the research, particularly through on-site observation and cluster participant interviews. Part of the purpose is to conduct collaborative research with Chinese experts in cluster research, as well as interviewing them in order to develop a good understanding of current research carried out by Chinese scholars in this field. Visits to libraries and 7

122 archives (primarily in Beijing) are necessary to examine historical documents. All primary and secondary data collected through the trip will be analysed and compared through the whole research process under the grounded theory methodology. Grounded theory appears to be the most suitable research methodology. It is a powerful research method for collecting and analysing data, originated by Glaser and Strauss (1967) (also Strauss 1987), and is considered to be one of the most rigorous research methods within qualitative research design. It is most appropriate in fields where existing theory and evidence are poorly developed characteristic of the situation being researched here. By applying this research method, the researcher expects to generate theory based on the collected data. The overall conceptual aims of this study are: a. To discover the unique characteristics of traditional Chinese cultural clusters. b. To investigate how can these unique characteristics contribute to contemporary Chinese clusters. c. To determine how the linkage between traditional cluster(s) and contemporary cluster(s) could contribute to clustering efficiency in New Zealand and the rest of the world. References: Alan G A Critique of Using Grounded Theory as a Research Method, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, vol. 2, no. 1, pp Embassy of the People s Republic of China in the Republic of Iceland, China Jingdezhen Porcelain Fair in Iceland, Glaser BG, Strauss AL The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, London: Wiedenfeld and Nicholson. Jiangxi government website, The History of Porcelain - An Overview, Porter M The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Harvard Business Review, vol. 90, no. 2, pp Shan H The Mystery of Zheng He and America, China Daily, 7 August. Strauss A Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 11. Researcher or instructor experience and qualifications in this research area: The student researcher (Jane Zhuang) has a PGDipCom and a Bachelor degree in International Business (Otago). She has held a special interest in cluster theory since In 2005, she finished a project report on the nutraceutical (health products) cluster in New Zealand; in 2006, she gained work experience in the tourism cluster in Dunedin (this is the second largest cluster in the city; education featuring the University is the largest, and both researchers are direct participants in this cluster). This Masters thesis is based on her exploratory research into the Jingdezhen (Jiangxi, China) porcelain cluster in 2007 as one of her Management class research reports. 8

123 This project represents the first time she is engaging in actual field work to support her research. The supervisor (Assoc. Prof. André Everett) has a PhD in Management and has lectured on international management, strategic management, operations management, and research methods at Otago since He has also lectured on international strategic management (including clusters) to Chinese postgraduate management students, as part of Otago s exchange program with our partner university in China, for 8 years. In December 2007, he visited the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster to conduct a preliminary field examination, determining that it is an appropriate target for Jane s field research. He has visited numerous clusters in both New Zealand and China (as well as other countries), and has maintained an interest in cluster research for over 15 years. 12. Participants 12(a) Population from which participants are drawn: All intended participants are located in China, in several locations of specific relevance to the cluster being studied. Participants sought are mainly: 1. Scholars and researchers involved in the cluster research field (located at universities, research institutions, archives, and museums in Beijing and Jingdezhen). 2. Scholars and researchers specialising in the field of Jingdezhen porcelain (located throughout China). 3. Local craftsmen, customers, business owners/managers, and similar stakeholders from supporting industries (Jingdezhen). 4. Local government officials in charge of the development of Jingdezhen s porcelain industry and/or cluster. The selection of these participant types is based on prescriptions by the originator of the current concept of industrial clusters, Michael Porter (Harvard Business School), which derives from his theory of national competitive advantage, consisting of demand conditions, related and supporting industries, factor conditions, firm strategy/structure/rivalry, and government. 12(b) Specify inclusion and exclusion criteria: Inclusion anyone who meets the criteria above (in 12(a)), which is (in general) any person connected to clusters or cluster research in China. Exclusion China. anyone not related to clusters or cluster research in 9

124 12(c) Number of participants: The number of participants is unpredictable, according to the nature of grounded theory. Snowball sampling (using contacts to obtain further contacts) will be employed to reach theoretical saturation (Strauss, 1987). However, it is anticipated that only a limited number of visits and interviews could be conducted within the two-month fieldwork time frame; it is estimated that perhaps ten to twenty scholars/researchers, about thirty industry participants, and five to ten government officials will be interviewed or consulted. The precise numbers cannot be known in advance as the research will rely on the personal contact networks of the participants to gain access to additional interviewees. 12(d) Age range of participants: Based on different types of stakeholders, the participants age range is anticipated to be between 20 and 60 years old. 12(e) Method of recruitment: Some potential participants have been recruited by (e.g., two professors in Beijing). Additional participants will be contacted through personal and academic network contacts, including additional members of the research teams of the two professors in Beijing. Some will be contacted directly in person at their places of business (e.g., shop owners, government officials, librarians, museum staff) in Jingdezhen. 12(f) -NA- Please specify any payment or reward to be offered: 13. Methods and Procedures: The interviews will be conducted in Chinese or English. Interviews will be recorded (based on permission given by the interviewee, via their signature on a consent form that specifically indicates that interviews will be recorded) and subsequently transcribed. The interviews conducted in Chinese will be coded in Chinese, and then categorised in English as the amount of interview records could be beyond the researcher s ability to translate every word from Chinese to English. The categorical translation will be validated by staff members of the Chinese Department of the University of Otago before external publication. All responses will be treated with high confidentiality and the information gathered will be used for academic purposes only. The interviewees will be informed of the nature of the research, and no deception of any sort will be practiced. All interviewees will be provided a copy of the general questions list in Chinese or in English (as shown below) in advance. No personal questions will be asked unless the researcher has the permission of the interviewees and respondents themselves. However, relevant demographic questions will be asked. All interviewees have the right to request a copy of the transcript of their interviews for their verification, and any amendments that they advise will be incorporated into the research. The purpose of this study is to assist the researcher in completing her masters thesis, and the results will therefore be included in the thesis. All interviewees have the right to ask for a copy of the final research output (the thesis). Following the university s standard policy, the resulting thesis will be made available in the the University of Otago Library, Dunedin New Zealand for 10

125 research purposes. Further, the results of this study may be published in whole or in part. Given the nature of many of the participants academic researchers and government officials it is likely that it will be both necessary and appropriate to name them or to designate their position/title (e.g., to give academics credit for their research, and to indicate the role of various government offices). However, any personal information that the interviewees would not wish disclosed will remain confidential; this will be ensured through the process of returning transcripts of interviews to the interviewees for their confirmation and assent. The data/information collected will be securely stored in such a way that only the researcher and the supervisor will be able to gain access to it. At the end of the project, any personal information will be destroyed immediately except that, as required by the University s research policy, any raw data on which the results of the project depend will be retained in secure storage for five years, after which it will be destroyed. Interview content Semi-structured interviews will be carried out based on the following open-ended questions: Demographics: 个人资料 1. What is your name? 请问您的名字是什么? 2. What is your age? 请问您的年龄是多少? 3. What is your education background? 请问您的教育程度到哪里? 4. What is your research interest? 请问您的研究方向是什么? 5. What is your job/position? 请问您现在的工作或职业是什么? Clusters in China (in general): 中国集群概况 6. What do you think about cluster research in China? 请问您对于中国产业集群的研 究现状有什么看法? 7. Do present researchers in general focus more on the contemporary development of clusters or really pay attention to their origin? 请问当前的学者是否更注重于集群 的现代化发展, 或者是更注重集群本身的历史起源? 8. Do you think research into traditional cultural clusters could benefit the application of cluster theory to the development of modern industries and clusters? Why? 您是 否觉得关于传统文化产业集群的研究可以帮助推动或优化现代工业或集群的发 展? 9. In what aspects could traditional cultural research contribute to contemporary clusters or industries? 可否请您预测一下传统文化集群的研究可能从哪几个方 面对现代产业或集群有助益? Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster: 景德镇陶瓷集群 10. What do you think about the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster? 请问您对于景德镇陶瓷 集群有什么看法? 11. From your point of view, what problems or issues affect this cluster? Who should deal with them? 从您的角度来看, 什么是影响这个集群的问题或因素? 它们牵 涉到哪些人群? 12. How do you think cluster research can benefit the Jingdezhen porcelain industry? Why? 请问关于产业集群的研究将如何帮助景德镇陶瓷产产业? 为什么? 13. What are the unique characteristics you perceive in the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster 11

126 as compared to other contemporary clusters, such as high-tech clusters, in China? 请 问在您看来景德镇陶瓷产业相对于其他现代产业 ( 譬如高科技产业 ), 有何独特 性? 14. Compliance with The Privacy Act 1993 and the Health Information Privacy Code 1994 imposes strict requirements concerning the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. These questions allow the Committee to assess compliance. 14(a) Are you collecting personal information directly from the individual concerned? YES If you are collecting the information indirectly, please explain why: -NA- 14(b) If you are collecting personal information directly from the individual concerned, specify the steps taken to make participants aware of the following points: the fact that you are collecting the information: In the information sheet, participants are informed that the researcher is collecting the information. the purpose for which you are collecting the information and the uses you propose to make of it: In the information sheet, participants are informed that information from the interviews is gathered for the purpose of completing the researcher s Masters thesis, and only the researcher and her supervisor will have access to their information. who will receive the information: In the information sheet, participants are informed that the information from the interviews will be used to complete the researcher s Masters thesis, and following the university s standard policy, such dissertations will be made available in the the University of Otago Library, Dunedin New Zealand for research purposes. Further, the results of this study may be published in whole or in part, in both Western and Chinese academic research publications (such as journals and conferences). the consequences, if any, of not supplying the information: In the information sheet, participants are made aware that there will be no disadvantage to them if they are not willing to supply the information or even participate in the research. the individual's rights of access to and correction of personal information: In the information sheet, participants will be informed that they have the right to obtain a copy of the transcript of their interviews for their verification, and any amendments that they advise will be incorporated into the research. 14(c) If you are not making participants aware of any of the points in (b), please explain why: -NA- 14(d) Does the research or teaching project involve any form of deception? NO If yes, please explain all debriefing procedures: -NA- 12

127 14(e) Please outline your storage and security procedures to guard against unauthorised access, use or disclosure and how long you propose to keep personal information: The data/information collected will be securely stored in such a way that only the researcher and the supervisor will be able to gain access to it. Specifically, it will be kept in a locked filing cabinet in the researcher s office at the University. At the end of the project, any personal information will be destroyed immediately except that, as required by the University s research policy, any raw data on which the results of the project depend will be retained in secure storage by the Management Department for five years, after which it will be destroyed. 14(f) Please explain how you will ensure that the personal information you collect is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading: The method of personally interviewing the participants ensures that whatever personal information received is accurate and up to date. In addition, by using structured interview questions, the researcher will make sure that whatever information collected is complete, relevant, and not misleading. 14(g) Who do you propose will have access to personal information, under what conditions, and subject to what safeguards against unauthorised disclosure? The personal information can only be accessed by the researcher and her supervisor. 14(h) Do you intend to publish any personal information and in what form do you intend to do this? The personal information of the interviewees will be withheld and not disclosed in the thesis. Only relevant information from the interviews will be used in the dissertation. Given the nature of many of the participants academic researchers and government officials it is likely that it will be both necessary and appropriate to name them or to designate their position/title (e.g., to give academics credit for their research, and to indicate the role of various government offices). However, any personal information that the interviewees would not wish disclosed will remain confidential; this will be ensured through the process of returning transcripts of interviews to the interviewees for their confirmation and assent. 14(i) Do you propose to collect information on ethnicity? -NA- 15. Potential problems: The researcher does not anticipate any major problems since participants are invited on a voluntary basis to participate in the research (interview). 16. Informed consent Please attach the information sheet and the consent form to this application. The information sheet and consent form must be separate. At a minimum the Information Sheet must describe in lay terms: the nature and purpose of the research; the procedure and how long it will take; 13

128 any risk or discomfort involved; who will have access and under what conditions to any personal information; the eventual disposal of data collected; the name and contact details of the staff member responsible for the project and an invitation to contact that person over any matter associated with the project; details of remuneration offered for participation and compensation payable in the event of harm; Exclusion criteria for the project if applicable including Health Concerns. (If exclusion include a clear statement to the effect that: People who meet one or more of the exclusion criteria set out above may not participate in this project, because in the opinion of the researchers and the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee, it involves unacceptable risk to them. ) and any other relevant matters The Information Sheet must conclude with the statement: "The University of Otago Human Ethics Committee has reviewed and approved this project." The Consent Form must make it clear that a participant: understands the nature of the proposal; has had all questions satisfactorily answered; is aware of what will become of the data (including video or audio tapes and data held electronically) at the conclusion of the project; knows that he or she is free to withdraw from the project at any time without disadvantage; is aware of risks, remuneration and compensation; is aware that the data may be published; is aware that a third party (i.e. transcriber) may have access to the data; is aware that every effort will be made to preserve the anonymity of the participant unless the participant gives an express waiver, which must be in addition to and separate from this consent form. 17. Fast-Track procedure Do you request fast-track consideration? NO If yes, please state specific reasons:- 18. Other committees If any other ethics committee has considered or will consider the proposal which is the subject of this application, please give details: -NA- 19. Applicant's Signature:... Date: Departmental approval: I have read this application and believe it to be scientifically and 14

129 ethically sound. I approve the research design. The Research proposed in this application is compatible with the University of Otago policies and I give my consent for the application to be forwarded to the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee with my recommendation that it be approved. Signature of *Head of Department:... Date:... *(In cases where the Head of Department is also the principal researcher then the appropriate Dean or Pro-Vice-Chancellor must sign) Please attach copies of the Information Sheet and Consent Form 15

130 从景德镇陶瓷集群探索中国传统文化产业集群独特性 2008 年八月 给参与者的信息单 非常感谢您表示对本硕士课题的兴趣 请您在决定是否参与本项目前先仔细阅读本信息单 如果您愿意参与, 我们表示感谢 若您最后决定不参与, 您将不会在任何方面受到不利影响, 我们同样感谢你对我们邀请的考虑 本项目的目的是什么? 本硕士论文的目标即通过分析关于景德镇陶瓷集群的古典著作并收集相关原始数据, 通过观 察, 田野日志和采访的方式去发掘中国文化产业集群的独特性 本研究致力于从商业的角度 去探索传统文化集群的面貌, 并将其与现代产业进行比较研究 有哪些参与者? 参与者类别主要为 : 1. 在北京和景德镇高校, 研究单位, 信息单位并博物馆中研究与集群相关课题的学者和研究员 2. 在中国各地研究与景德镇陶瓷相关的学者和研究员 3. 在景德镇本地的工匠 顾客 陶瓷经营商及管理层人员, 并其他支持本产业的相关人员 4. 景德镇当地与陶瓷产业发展相关的政府官员 参与者会被要求做什么? 您是否愿意参与这个半组织形态的访问 ; 本访问将费时半个小时到一个小时 ( 在需要并获得您的允许的情况下可能延长 )? 在您的允许下, 本次访问将用录音的形式进行, 录音材料在随后将被主要研究员转换成文字 您有权要求持有一份录音的文字材料, 并在在研究分析前进行审视, 修改和补充 ( 请注意您可能决定不参与本项目, 您的决定不会给您带来任何不利影响 ; 您可能在任何时间推出本项目研究, 而您的决定不会给您带来任何不利影响 ) 研究员将会收集哪些信息并做何用途? 研究员将会收集体现景德镇陶瓷集群作为传统文化集群的重要特征的信息 这些信息在经过分析后将有利于中国及其他国家的传统和现代产业集群 本项目的结果将做何处理? 本项目的目的是帮助研究员完成其硕士论文, 本项目的结果将成为其论文的一部分 根据大学规定, 此类论文将被存放在新西兰但尼丁奥塔古大学图书馆内以便作研究之用 其次, 本项目结果有可能全部 ( 作为教科书 ) 或部分被发表 ( 在专业杂志 报刊和会议上 ) 根据有意愿参与者的实际情况和特殊身份, 其中有前沿学者, 相关的政府官员和当地产业成员, 他们很有可能成为论文的阅读者 当中的学者可能希望他们的研究和建议被计算在内 ; 政府官员可能希望他们对于本集群的发展和管理得到肯定 ; 经商人员可能希望他们的努力被认可等等 从许多情况中根据被参访者的职位和工作单位, 标明信息出处是很重要的 但是, 若有参与者在任何情况下希望他们的名字, 职位或任何具体信息保持机密将会被尊重, 这些信息将不会向研究员及其导师以外的任何人透露 16

131 收集到的材料将被安全保管在只有以上提到的两名研究员可以拿到的地方和方式 在本课题结束的时候, 任何个人资料将在大学研究政策要求下立即进行销毁 任何产生本课题结果的原始数据将被安全保管五年, 之后被销毁 如果参与者有问题怎么办? 如果您关于这个课题有任何问题或希望和获得关于本可以的报告, 您可以现在或在将来联络以下两位研究员中的任何一位 : 庄育婷 Yuting Zhuang ( 主要研究员 ) 新西兰但尼丁奥塔古大学管理系大学电话号码 : 大学传真号码 : 邮箱 : yzhuang@business.otago.ac.nz Or 艾安德烈 Dr André Everett ( 副教授 导师 ) 奥塔古大学管理系电话 : 传真 : 邮箱 :aeverett@business.otago.ac.nz 谢谢您仔细阅读本信息单 奥塔古大学人类伦理道德委员会已审核并批准本项目 17

132 2008 年八月 从景德镇陶瓷集群探索中国传统文化产业集群独特性 参与者同意书 我已经读过关于本项目的信息单并了解其中的内容 我所有的问题已被满意地解答 我知道 我可以在自由地在任何阶段要求更多信息 我知道 : 1. 我对于此项目的参与完全是义务性的 ; 2. 我有自由在任何时间从此项目中撤回并无任何不利影响 ; 3. 我的参与最主要是给研究员半个小时到一个小时的时间进行采访, 本次采访将会用录音的形式并接着转换为文字材料, 我有权获得一份转换后的文字材料并在其被研究分析前进行审视, 修改和补充 ; 4. 此录音记录和抄本将被取名编号, 并只有研究员和其导师可以取得 在本项目的结束, 数据将被销毁, 但任何产生本项目结果的原始数据 ( 录音记录和抄本 ) 将被安全保存五年, 五年后被销毁 ; 5. 本项目将采用开放式问题的方法, 此方法让问题更为简洁, 并不事前安排问题 问题取决于参访如何进行 如果问题的发展让我觉得迟疑或不舒服, 我可能拒绝回答具体问题或从本项目中撤回并无任何不利影响 ; 6. 此项目的结果可能被发表并存放在新西兰但尼丁奥塔古大学图书馆, 但每一次尝试引用数据将会被保存为无记名形式 根据有意愿参与者的实际情况和特殊身份, 其中有前沿学者, 相关的政府官员和当地产业成员, 他们很有可能成为论文的阅读者 当中的学者可能希望他们的研究和建议被计算在内 ; 政府官员可能希望他们对于本集群的发展和管理得到肯定 ; 经商人员可能希望他们的努力被认可等等 从许多情况中根据被参访者的职位和工作单位, 标明信息出处是很重要的 但是, 若有参与者在任何情况下希望他们的名字, 职位或任何具体信息保持机密将会被尊重, 这些信息将不会向研究员及其导师以外的任何人透露 ; 并且 7. 数据通过电子邮件的方式传递将会采用适当的预防, 但这并不能保证数据的安全 我愿意参与这个项目 ( 参与者签名 ) ( 时间 )... ( 参与者姓名 ) 18

133 奥塔古大学人类伦理道德委员会已审核并批准本项目 19

134 7.2.2 Departmental Approval 20

135 7.2.3 Ethical Committee Reference Code 21

136 7.2.4 Conditional Approval of Human Ethics Committee 22

137 7.2.5 Fully Approval by Human Ethics Committee 23

138 7.3 Appendix III: Pre-research Documentary The Profiles of the Two Distinct Researchers in China Dr. Jici Wang, Professor 王缉慈, 女, 汉族 1946 年 2 月生于昆明 籍贯广西博白 北京大学城市与环境学院教授 博士生导师, 国际地理联合会经济空间动态委员会指导委员 (IGU Commission on Dynamics of Economic Space, The members of the Steering Committee) 中国地理学会经济地理专业委员会副主任 清华大学 21 世纪研究院兼职教授 其它兼职工作有 : 北京大学学报 ( 自然科学版 ) 编辑 世界地理研究 副主编 地域研究与开发 副主编, 国家科技部火炬中心专家组成员 内蒙古自治区科技顾问 陕西西安高新区产业发展顾问 河南登封市经济发展顾问等 在北京大学主要讲授 工业地理学 技术与区域发展 课程, 主要从事产业集群和区域发展方面的研究 多次出国参加国际会议 1985 年 1990 年 1995 年曾三次在加拿大进修和从事专题研究 代表性著作有 现代工业地理学 ( 中国科学技术出版社,1994 年 ) 新的产业空间 - 高技术产业开发区的发展与布局 ( 合著, 北京大学出版社, 1993 年 ) 创新的空间 - 企业集群与区域发展 ( 北京大学出版社,2001 年 ) 等 发表中英文论文百余篇, 主要有 The changing industrial geography of the Chinese special economic zones, Economic Geography, 1986, 62 (4): , An analysis of new-tech agglomeration in Beijing: a new industrial district in the making?, Environment and Planning A, 1998, 30(4): 等 Papers: 1. Wang J. C., Wang J. X. 1998,An analysis of New-tech Agglomeration in Beijing: A New Industrial District In the Making? Environment and Planning A,pp Wang Jici, 2002, High and New Technology Industrial Development Zones (Chapter 8), In C. M. Webber, M. Wang, Y Zhu (eds): China s Transition to a Global Economy, Palgrave Macmillan s global academic publishing 3. Wang Jici, 2002, The Trajectory of the Personal Computer Industry (Chapter 10), In C. M. Webber, M. Wang, Y Zhu (eds): China s Transition to a Global Economy, Palgrave Macmillan s global academic publishing 4. Wang Jici, Chen Yilong, 1998,Searching for More Innovative Capabilities: The Case of Zhong guancun, China, Development and Society, Seoul National University, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp Wang, J. and Tong, X. 2003, Industrial Clusters in China: Alternative Pathways to Global Local Perspective. Innovation Systems and Innovation Policy in Developing Countries with a Perspective of China. Edited by Gu, S and Alcorta, L, Routledge in Association with UNU Press 6. Wang, J. C. 1999, In Search of Innovativeness: The Case of Zhong guancun, In Malecki E. and Oina P. (Ed) Making Connections: Technological Learning and Regional Economic Change, Ashgate: Vermont, Chapter 8, pp Wang, J. Zhu, HS, and Tong, X. 2003, Industrial Districts in a Transitional Economy: The Case of Datang Sock and Stocking Industry in Zhejiang, China. Proximity, Distance and Diversity: Issues on Economic Interaction and Local Development. Edited by Oina, P. New 24

139 York, Ashgate, pp Tong, X. and Wang, J. 2002, Global-local Networking of PC manufacturing in Dongguan, China. Knowledge, Industry and Environment: Institutions and Innovation in Territorial Perspective. Edited by Hayter, M and Heron R. Ashgate Vermont,pp Tong, X. and Wang, J. 2004,The Shadow of Global Production Network: Transnational Flows of E-waste and its Localization in China,Eurasian Geography and Economy (Special Issue) 10. Wang J, Zhu H, and Tong X, 2005, Industrial Districts in a Transitional Economy: The Case of Datang Sock and Stocking Industry in Zhejiang, China,in Arnoud Lagendijk and Päivi Oinas (eds), Proximity, Distance and Diversity: Issues on Economic Interaction and Local Development, Aldershot: Ashgate. pp Wang, Jici (2006): China s consumer manufactures: with special reference to Wenzhou footwear cluster, China, Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, 2006, Vol.8, No.1-2, pp Wang, Jici (2007): Industrial clusters in China: the low road vs. the high road in cluster development, Chapter 7 in Allen Scott and Golifoli (ed.): Development on the Ground: Clusters, networks and Regions in Emerging Economies, London: Routeledge, Wang J. and Tong X. 2005, Sustaining Urban Growth through Innovative Capacity: Beijing and Shanghai in Comparison, issued as the World Bank Policy Research Working Paper # 王缉慈,J. ブラドバリ / 金田昌司 ( 翻译 ),1987, 中国における经济特区と工业配置の变动, 工业の空间构造 - 中国? 韩国? 日本の比较 -, 村田喜代治编, 中央大学出版部, 东京,pp 王缉慈, 王缉宪,1999p, 北京にぉけるニュテク集积地域の分析 - 形成中のニ? ュテク产业地域 - 中国の高新技术产业地域企业 - 北京中关村を中心に, 德山大学研究丛书 18, 冈田印刷株式会社,1999 年 3 月, 董黎明, 王缉慈,1983a, 赣州的城市性质和职能分析, 经济地理 第 3 期, 页 17. 王缉慈,1983b, 试述我国石油化纤工业的布局和选址问题, 经济地理 第 4 期, 页 18. 王缉慈,1985, 我国的纯碱工业, 地理知识,1985 第 10 期 19. 王缉慈,1987, 增长极理论的来龙去脉, 发展研究 ( 国务院农研中心 ) 第 期 20. 王缉慈,1988, 工业地理学的全球观与经济观, 地理科学 第 4 期 21. 王缉慈,1989a, 增长极概念 理论和战略探究, 经济科学 第 3 期 22. 王缉慈,1989b, 关于赣州筹建出口加工小区问题的思考, 效益与管理 总第 170 期 23. 王缉慈,1989c, 小导国与内缘国的地缘特征, 人文地理 1989 年第 2 期,31-33 页 24. 王缉慈,1991d, 关于我国高技术产业的概念及其有关问题的讨论, 中国工业经济 总 44 期,42-46 页 25. 王缉慈,1991b, 加拿大区域经济初析, 加拿大与加拿大人, 阮西湖 王丽芝主编, 中国社会科学出版社 25

140 26. 王缉慈,1992a, 别树一帜的国家竞争优势理论, 管理世界 总 40 期 27. 王缉慈,1992b, 高技术世界中的加拿大, 加拿大与加拿大人 ( 二 ), 阮西湖 王丽芝主编, 中国工人出版社 28. 王缉慈, 王民,1992c, 加拿大的工业园区, 加拿大与加拿大人 ( 二 ), 阮西湖 王丽芝主编, 中国工人出版社 29. 王缉慈,1992d, 加拿大增强国家竞争优势的新战略, 北京大学 加拿大掠影 1992 年第 1 期 30. 王缉慈,1992f, 加拿大的高技术产业及其区位特征, 北京大学 加拿大掠影 1992 年第 1 期 31. 王缉慈,1992g, 论加拿大造纸业面临的挑战和我国的机遇, 北京大学 加拿大掠影 1992 年第 2 期 32. 王缉慈,1993a, 关于企业地理学研究价值的探讨, 经济地理 12 卷 4 期 33. 王缉慈,1993b, 高技术产业布局中的交通运输问题, 地理科学 13 卷 4 期 34. 王缉慈 宋向辉 李光宇,1995, 企业衍生 : 北京新技术集聚体的重要特征, 中国高新技术企业评价 第 6 期 35. 王缉慈,1992, 别树一帜的国家竞争优势理论, 管理世界 总 40 期, 王缉慈,1994a, 国际地理联合会 (IGU) 工业空间组织委员会 1993 年学术年会概况, 地理科学 14 卷 2 期, 王缉慈,1994b, 中国新工业区的形成 ( 本人英文论文的译文 ), 地理译报 13 卷 4 期, 王缉慈,1994c, 第 4 届东亚工业变化国际学术讨论会纪要, 地理译报 13 卷 4 期 [1], 王缉慈,1994d, 淄博高新技术产业开发区发展机制研究, 地域研究与开发 13 卷 2 期, 王缉慈,1994e, 加拿大小企业的发展及其政策环境, 加拿大与加拿大人 ( 三 ), 阮西湖主编, 中国工人出版社 41. 王缉慈,1995, 企业衍生 : 北京新技术集聚体的重要特征, 中国高新技术企业评价 1995 年第 6 期 42. 王缉慈,1996a, 关于北京新技术企业集聚与扩散问题的调查和讨论, 地理学报 51 卷 6 期, 王缉慈,1996b, 国际地理联合会 (IGU) 工业空间组织委员会 1995 年汉城会议, 地理学报 51 卷 2 期, 王缉慈,1996a, 地理教学更新观点杂谈, 中学地理教学参考 1996Z1 45. 王缉慈,1996b, 北京高技术企业的集聚与扩散调查, 科学中国人,1996 年第 1 期 46. 王缉慈,1996c, 发展高技术产业与地方创新环境, 科学中国人,1996 年第 11 期 47. 王缉慈,1996d, 从企业角度研究区域的一个分析构架, 地域研究与开发 15 卷 6 期, 王缉慈,1996e, 对加拿大区域差异问题的新观察, 加拿大掠影, 北京大学加拿大研究中心编, 民族出版社,1996 年 6 月, 第 页 49. 王缉慈,1996f, 发展高技术产业需要区域创新环境, 科技日报 1996 年 10 月 31 日第 1 版 50. 王缉慈,1996g, 区域创新环境及其网络理论, 中国高新技术产业导报 1996 年 10 26

141 月 24 日后连载 51. 王缉慈,1996h, 从 钮扣集团 谈起 - 培育我国的竞争优势产业区和地方创新系统, 中国国情国力,1996 年第 11 期 52. 孙颖, 王缉慈,1996, 硅谷和 128 公路的对比看高技术产业创新力的保持, 中外科技政策与管理, 第 9 期, 第 页 53. 王缉慈,1997a, 关于中关村新技术区域发展问题的深层思考, 载北京市社会科学院, 北京市计委, 北京市统计局 : 北京经济形势分析与预测 年经济蓝皮书, 景体华主编 首都师范大学出版社 54. 王缉慈,1997b, 访问加拿大舍尔顿科技园的重要启示 中国高新技术企业评价, 1997 年第 2 期 55. 王缉慈,1997c, 区域创新环境及其网络理论 科学中国人 1997 年第 1 期 56. 王缉慈,1997d, 高技术产业的发展与社区文化 文汇报 1997 年 8 月 25 日 57. 王缉慈,1997e, 海外学习体会 国际合作与交流, 北京大学外事处,1997 年第 1 期 58. 王缉慈,1997f, 图书馆 书 人 国际合作与交流, 北京大学外事处,1997 年第 2 期 59. 王缉慈,1998g, 关于北京发展高新技术产业的政策思考, 载北京市社会科学院, 北京市计委, 北京市统计局 : 北京经济形势分析与预测 年经济蓝皮书, 景体华主编, 首都师范大学出版社 60. 王缉慈,1997a, 关于企业规模科学性的思考, 中国工业经济,1997 年第 7 期 61. 王缉慈,1997b, 网络环境 - 产业组织的崭新形式 : 兼评企业上规模的认识误区, 战略与管理, 1997 年第 3 期 62. 王缉慈,1997c, 企业规模与产业组织的内在科学性? 谈 规模 集团 风中的新误区, 科技导报, 1997 年第 7 期 63. 王缉慈,1997d, 国际地理联合会工业空间组织委员会 1997 年学术年会简介, 地理学报,1997 年第 4 期 64. 王缉慈,1998a, 关于高新技术产业开发区对区域经济发展影响的分析构架, 中国工业经济,1998 年第 3 期 65. 王缉慈,1998b, 关于我国区域研究中的若干新概念的讨论, 北京大学学报 ( 哲学社会科学版 ),1998 年第 6 期 66. 王缉慈,1998c, 对策出自对创新的再认识, 中国民营科技与经济,1998 年第 11 期 67. 王缉慈,1999a, 创新就是创造新产品, 并实现市场价值 北京科技报,1999 年 12 月 24 日 68. 王缉慈,1999b, 创新就是创造新产品, 并实现市场价值 科技日报,1999 年 3 月 11 日, 第 3 版 69. 王缉慈,1999c, 中关村高新技术区域发展的危机和对策, 载北京市社会科学院, 北京市计委, 北京市统计局 : 北京经济形势分析与预测 年经济蓝皮书, 景体华主编, 首都师范大学出版社 70. 王缉慈,1999d, 构建中关村的区域创新网络, 北京日报,1999 年 6 月 28 日 71. 王缉慈,1999e, 良好的创新环境是发展高技术产业的必要条件?? 世界高技术园区 评价, 国外城市规划,1999 年第 3 期, 第 页 72. 王缉慈,1999f, 区域创新环境, 中国科技月报 1999 年第 1 期 ( 首页 ) 73. 王缉慈,1999g, 政府在中关村科技园区发展中的作用问题, 北京科技报,

142 年 8 月 31 日 74. 王缉慈,1999, 创业与创新?? 女企业家在区域发展中的作用 王缉慈,1999h, 知识创新和区域发展的文化力, 城市经济论坛,1999 年第 3 期, 第 页 76. 盖文启 王缉慈,1999a, 论区域的技术创新型模式及其创新网络?? 以北京中关村地区为例, 北京大学学报 ( 哲学社会科学版 ),1999 年第 5 期 77. 盖文启 王缉慈,1999b, 从硅谷的成功看中国高新区的发展, 中国工业经济 1999 年第 12 期 78. 盖文启 王缉慈,1999c, 论区域创新网络对我国高新技术中小企业发展的作用, 中国软科学,1999 年第 9 期 79. 王缉慈,1999d, 知识创新和区域创新环境, 经济地理,1999 年第 1 期, 第 页 80. 王缉慈 王可,1999, 区域创新环境和企业根植性 - 兼论我国高新技术产业开发区的发展, 地理研究,1999 年第 4 期, 第 页 81. 盖文启 王缉慈,1999, 从硅谷的成功看中国高新区的发展, 中国工业经济, 1999 年第 12 期, 第 页 82. 盖文启 王缉慈,1999, 区域发展的技术创新型模式及其创新网络, 北京大学学报 ( 社会科学版 ),1999 年第 5 期 83. 盖文启 王缉慈,1999, 区域创新网络和我国高新区中小企业的发展, 中国软科学,1999 年第 5 期 84. 童昕, 王缉慈,1999, 硅谷 - 新竹 - 东莞 : 信息产业的全球生产网络透析, 科技导报,1999 年第 9 期 85. 王缉慈,2000a, 从意大利产业区模式看浙江专业化产业区发展前景, 浙江经济, 2000 年第 7 期, 第 页 86. 王缉慈,2000b, 从意大利产业区模式看浙江专业化产业区发展前景, 浙江经济报, 2000 年 6 月 16 日 87. 王缉慈,2000c, 关于中关村发展模式的深层思考, 北京联合大学学报,2000 年第 1 期 88. 童昕 王缉慈,2000, 论全球化背景下的本地创新网络, 中国软科学, 第 9 期, 第 页 ; 89. 童昕, 王缉慈, 李天宏,2000, 论可持续发展与生态工业革命, 科技导报,2000 年第 4 期, 第 6-9 页 90. 王缉慈,2001a, 创新概念随想, 中国科技成果 91. 王缉慈,2001b, 关于在外向型区域发展本地企业集群的一点思考 - 墨西哥和我国台湾外向型加工区域的对比分析, 世界地理研究 2001 年第 3 期 92. 王缉慈,2001c, 集群战略的公共政策及其对中国的意义, 中外科技信息 第 4 期, 第 3?6 页 93. 王缉慈, 童昕,2001d, 论全球化背景下的地方产业群 - 地方竞争优势的源泉, 战略与管理,2001 年第 6 期, 第 28?36 页 94. 童昕, 王缉慈,2001, 政府在高科技制造业发展中的角色转化?? 以我国 PC 制造业地方产业群的形成发展为例, 中外科技信息 第 4 期, 第 17?20 页 95. 王缉慈, 童昕,2001b, 简论我国地方企业集群的研究意义, 经济地理 第 5 期, 第 550?553 页 28

143 96. 童昕, 李天宏, 王缉慈,2001, 特色产业区规划要引入生态工业思想, 浙江经济, 2001 年第 12 期, 第 页 ; 97. 童昕, 王缉慈,2001, 全球商品链中的地方产业群, 地域研究与开发 第 6 期 98. 童昕, 王缉慈,2001, 东莞 PC 相关制造业地方产业群的发展演变, 地理学报, 56(6): 魏守华, 王缉慈,2001, 论专业化区域经济发展中地方政府的作用 - 以浙江嵊州市为例, 生产力研究 第 6 期, 第 88?90 页 100. 朱华晟, 王缉慈,2001, 外商投资对东莞区域发展的影响及其战略思考, 人文地理 第 4 期,49? 朱华晟, 王缉慈,2001, 论产业群内的地方联系?? 以东莞电子产业群为例, 经济地理 2001 年第 4 期 102. 朱华晟, 王缉慈,2001, 大唐袜业产业区分析 我国 意大利式产业区 产生和发展的一个实例, 中外科技信息 第 4 期, 第 25?29 页 103. 朱华晟, 王缉慈,2001, 论柔性生产与产业集聚, 世界地理研究 第 4 期,39-47 页 104. 王缉慈,2002a, 用全球观点看东莞制造业, 中国经济信息 2002 年第 16 期 105. 王缉慈,2002b, 关于用产业群战略发展我国造船业的政策建议, 地域研究与开发 2002 年第 3 期,42-46 页 106. 王缉慈,2002c, 创新性的低技术产业群 - 家具业群, 中国经营报 2002 年 2 月 5 日第 4 版 107. 王缉慈,2002d, 高新区不能雾里看花, 中国高新技术产业导报 3 月 26 日 108. 王缉慈,2002e, 创新及其相关概念的跟踪观察?? 返朴归真 认识进化和前沿发现, 中国软科学 2002 年第 12 期,30-34 页 109. 王缉慈,2002f, 地方产业群战略, 中国工业经济,2002 年第 3 期,47?54 页 110. 王缉慈,2002g, 补 集群 理论的课, 时装观察,2002 年 7 月号,33-34 页 111. 童昕, 王缉慈,2002, 全球化 - 本地化 : 透视中国三大 IT 产业群的形成与演化, 经济地理 2002, 第 6 期 112. 童昕, 王缉慈,2002, 论全球商品链中的地方产业群?? 以东莞的 商圈 现象为例, 地域研究与开发 113. 魏守华 王缉慈 赵雅沁,2002, 产业集群 : 新型区域经济发展理论 经济经纬 第 2 期, 第 18~21 页 114. 童昕 王缉慈,2002, 全球化与本地化 : 透视我国个人计算机相关产业群的空间演变, 经济地理,2002 年第 6 期, 页 115. 魏守华 邵东涛 王缉慈,2002, 地方企业集群战略对西部大开发的意义 开发研究 第 31~33 页 116. 王缉慈,2003a, 东莞和苏州 PC 产业群的比较分析 中国地质大学学报 ( 社会科学版 ) 第 2 期,6-10 页 117. 王缉慈,2003b, 关于我国服装业的地方集群战略研究, 世界地理研究,2003 年第 2 期 118. 王缉慈,2003c, 我国制造业集群分布现状及其发展特征, 地域研究与开发 2003 年第 6 期 119. 王缉慈,2003d, 意大利的产业特点, 今日浙江,2003Z 王缉慈, 罗家德,2003, 东莞和苏州 PC 产业群的比较分析 中国地质大学学报 ( 社会科学版 ) 第 2 期,6-10 页 29

144 121. 王缉慈,2004a, 中国的地方产业集群及其对发展中国家的意义, 地域研究与开发,2004 年第 4 期, 第 1-4 页 122. 王缉慈,2004b, 关于中国产业集群研究的若干概念辨析, 地理学报, 第 59 卷增刊 123. 王缉慈,2004c, 关于发展创新型产业集群的政策建议, 经济地理,2004 年第 2 期, 页 124. 王缉慈,2004d, 关于地方产业集群研究的几点建议, 经济经纬,2004 年第 2 期, 第 页 125. 王缉慈,2004e, 产业空洞化可能瞬间发生?? 论自由布局型产业的全球化转移, 成功营销 2004 年第 5 期, 第 页 126. 王缉慈,2004f, 产业集群 : 城市发展的名片, 中国质量与品牌 8 月号 ( 总第 7 期 ), 第 页 127. 王缉慈,2004g, 从集群创新到创新集群 - 谈谈我国区域的集群发展问题, 地方产业集群网 发表 128. 王缉慈,2004h, 产业集群 : 城市发展的名片, 中国质量与品牌,2004 年第 8 期 129. 王缉慈,2004i, 关于地方产业集群研究的几点建议, 经济经纬,2004 年第 2 期, 王缉慈,2004j, 关于发展创新型产业集群的政策建议, 经济地理, 第 24 卷第 4 期, 王缉慈,2004k, 关于中国产业集群研究的若干概念辨析, 地理学报, 第 59 卷增刊, 王缉慈,2004l, 我国制造业集群分布现状及其发展特征, 中国质量与品牌, 第期, 王缉慈,2004m, 温州鞋业集群向何处去, 中国质量与品牌, 第期, 王缉慈,2004n, 提升我国鞋业竞争力的集群战略, 中国质量与品牌, 第期, 张辉, 王缉慈,2004, 全球价值链理论与我国产业发展研究, 中国工业经济 194(5), 第 页 136. 谭文柱, 王缉慈, 陈倩倩,2004, 关于地方产业集群研究的几点建议, 经济经纬, 2004 年第 2 期 137. 王缉慈, 陈倩倩,2004, 全球鞋业转移背景下我国鞋业集群升级, 温州论坛, 第 6 期 138. 蔡运龙等,2004, 地理科学的中国进展与国际趋势, 地理学报 第 59 卷第 6 期, 2004, 蔡运龙等,2004, 中国地理科学的国家需求与发展战略, 地理学报 第 59 卷第 6 期, 王缉慈. 2005a, 产业集群和工业园区发展中的企业邻近与集聚辨析. 中国软科学. 2005(12) 141. 王缉慈. 2005b, 怎么找中关村的产业集群? 中关村. 2005(6) 142. 王缉慈,2005c, 解读产业集群, 中国产业集群, 第一辑,1-5 页,2005 年 3 月 143. 王缉慈,2005e, 创意产业集群的价值思考, 上海国际城市创意产业论坛上发言稿, 2005 年 12 月 01 日, 30

145 144. 王缉慈 谭文柱,2005, 论地方产业联系与区域发展?? 兼评 延长产业链 的认识误区, 产业经济评论,2005 年第 2 期 145. 陈倩倩, 王缉慈. 2005, 论创意产业及其集群的发展环境?? 以音乐产业为例. 地域研究与开发. 2005(5)5-8 页 146. 陈倩倩, 王缉慈. 2005, 提升我国制鞋业竞争力的地方集群战略思考. 世界地理研究. 2005(1) 147. 童昕, 王缉慈. 2005, 北京与上海创新性产业比较研究. 城市规划. 2005(4) 王缉慈. 2006a, 产业集群概念理解的若干误区评析. 地域研究与开发. 2006(2) 149. 王缉慈, 谭文柱, 林涛, 梅丽霞,2006, 产业集群概念理解的若干误区评析, 地域研究与开发,2006 年第 2 期,1-6 页 150. 王缉慈,2006b, 解开集群概念的困惑?? 谈谈我国区域的集群发展问题, 经济经纬,2006 年第 2 期, 第 页 151. 王缉慈,2006c, 关于我国发展产业集群中的若干问题. 理论参考 (9): 王缉慈,2006d, 发展创新型产业集群, 走新型工业化道路 理论参考. 2006(9): 王缉慈,2006e, 创新集群 : 高新区未来之愿景与目标. 中国高新区. 2006(10) 154. 王缉慈,2006f, 关注文化创意产业. 前线. 2006(4) 155. 王缉慈,2006g, 创新集群?? 高新区未来之愿景与目标, 中国高新区,2006 年第 10 期, 卷首语 156. 王缉慈,2006h, 体验知识海洋 知识山峰和知识网络, 北大讲座 编委会 北大讲座 第七讲, 第 页, 北京大学出版社,2005 年 157. 谭文柱, 陈倩倩, 王缉慈. 2006, 全球鞋业转移背景下我国制鞋业的地方集群升级?? 以温州鞋业集群为例. 经济地理. 2006(1) 158. 谭文柱, 王缉慈, 陈倩倩,2006, 全球鞋业转移背景下我国地方集群的升级 - 以温州鞋业集群为例, 经济地理,2006 年第 1 期 159. 祁苑玲 ; 王缉慈 ; 任宝,2006, 关于老工业基地淄博市工业区位变化的地理学思考, 地理科学,2006 年第 1 期,7-12 页 160. 童昕 卢洋 林涛 王缉慈,2006, 塑造郊区城市的创意生活空间?? 昌平高科技走廊发展规划, 北京规划建设,2006 年第 6 期,46-47 页 161. 谭文柱 王缉慈,2006, 论外部知识联系对发展中国家产业集群的重要性, 地域研究与开发,2006 年第 3 期, 第 6-9 页 162. 王缉慈,2007a, 中国制造?? 产业集群仅仅是压低成本的地方吗? 华夏地理, 2007 年第 6 期, 页 163. 王缉慈, 林涛. 2007b. 我国外向型制造业集群发展和研究的新视角. 北京大学学报 ( 自然科学版 ) 43(6): 王缉慈,2007c, 创意文化产品的孵化场所?? 集群对比园区, 深圳文化研究 ( 深圳市特区文化研究中心主办 )2007(2): 王缉慈,2007d, 关于济宁经济发展问题的思考, 鲁南经济带与济宁发展高层论坛文集 页 166. 王缉慈,2007e, 创意文化产品的孵化场所?? 集群对比园区, 深圳市发改委 经济动态 167. 王缉慈,200f, 创建一流大学不如创建一流专业, 科学时报 王缉慈, 李鹏飞, 陈平,2007, 制造业活动地理转移视角下的中国产业集群问题, 31

146 地域研究与开发 26(5): 任宝 李鹏飞 王缉慈,2007, 产品品牌数量对产业集群影响的实证研究?? 以中国服装产业集群为例, 地域研究与开发,26(3):6-10 [1] 该期 地理译报 是本人主持的东亚工业变化国际学术讨论会论文选集 Dr. Lili Fang, Anthropologist 方李莉江西人,1956 年生于贵州省六盘水市 1996 年毕业于中央工艺美术学院 ( 现清华大学美术学院 ) 史论系获博士学位, 同年被录取到北京大学社会学人类学研究所做博士后研究工作 1998 年博士后出站, 分配到中国艺术研究院中国文化研究所工作 现任中国艺术研究院艺术人类学研究中心主任 博士生导师 研究员 兼任中国艺术人类学学会长, 国家非物质文化遗产专家委员会委员, 北京市人民代表 研究方向为艺术人类学, 近年来尤其从艺术人类学的角度关注文化遗产保护方面的研究工作 担任科技部资助的国家重点课题 西北人文资源环境基础数据库 和文化部资助的国家重点课题 保护 开发和利用西部人文资源 的负责人 近年来出版的主要著作有 : 新工艺文化论 人类造物观念大趋势, 清华大学出版社 1995 年出版 ; 景德镇民窑, 人民美术出版社 2002 年出版 ; 传统与变迁 景德镇新旧民窑业田野考察, 江西人民出版社 2000 年出版 ; 器以载道 中国陶瓷美学思想评析, 韩国麦粒美术馆出版社出版 ; 飘逝的古镇 瓷城旧事, 群言出版社 2001 年出版 ; 中国陶瓷, 五洲传播出版社 2005 年版 ; 费孝通晚年思想录, 岳麓出版社 2005 年出版 近年来发表的论文有 : 传统在现代化中的重构 血脉的传承 走向田野的艺术研究 经济全球化与文化生态的构成 工业文明进程中的思考 文化生态失衡问题的提出 全球一体化中人类文化所遭遇的困境 科学与艺术的新精神 论工艺美术的再生性与原生性 道德文化的建构与经济的可持续发展 全球经济一体化语境中 : 对人类艺术遗产的再阐释 文化自觉 与中国文化价值体系的重建 谁拥有文化解释的权利 二十一世纪一场新文化运动的崛起 人类文化的保护 请关注非物质文化遗产的拥有者 谁能阻挡生活的流动 西部人文资源与西部民间文化的再生产 艺术学研究角度的转换 艺术人类学研究的当代价值 艺术人类学的研究沿革与中国本土价值 艺术人类学田野工作中的文化思考 等七十余篇 (Retrieved 7 June, 2008, from The Request for Collaboration Research Request to Dr. Jici Wang 尊敬的王缉慈老师, 您好! 本人名字叫庄育婷, 籍贯福建厦门, 是新西兰奥塔哥大学商学院管理系的一名在读硕士研究生 我写这封信的目的是希望有幸能够在产业集群研究上在能得到王老师的指导 ; 其次也在于寻求新西兰与中国在经济研究领域交流合作的机会 本人现在正在申请 New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Awards (NZPSAA), 这个奖项的目的之一在于加强新西兰 32

147 院校与世界各学院之间的学术交流 由于研究景德镇陶瓷产业集群的需要, 我阅读了一部分王老师的著作文献 特别是刊载在地方产业集群研究网和中国工业集群期刊上的文章 王老师是产业集群研究的先驱之一 您对于西方关于经济地理学和古典经济学都有很深入的理解 您的理论架构也是国内许多学者争相借鉴的对象 在过去二十年中有许多著名的学者的重点研究的案例都是工业集群, 包括 Michael Porter 在今年一月份在瑞典的讲座中,Porter 提到他的最近的研究发现是 : 在就业增长率, 工薪和专利申请上, 高科技产业相对于其他产业没有明显的优势 或许这正是研究传统文化产业集群的时机 Porter 在 国家竞争力 (1990) 一书中所采用的最古老的个案包括威尼斯的造船业和意大利的瓷砖业 这些产业相对于中国的茶工业, 陶瓷工业, 丝绸等传统产业, 都显得年轻了许多 我相信的是, 中国的传统产业的复兴, 需要的是适用于中国传统产业的理论, 以中国人普遍可以理解的方式, 去推动带有产业文化特色的策略, 最终产生有别于他国且根植于中国文化的竞争力 或许我在表达这方面的理想时, 已显露出我对中国现阶段的产业集群研究的不成熟 也正是这个原因, 我盼望能有机会在关于产业集群理论上, 尤其是中国在这方面的研究现状向王老师讨教和学习 今年是我对景德镇的研究的第二年 起初它只是我作为中国传统产业集群的一个切入点 当我对景德镇陶瓷的学习研究逐渐深入之后, 我心中越来越放不下这个陶瓷名镇 从关于这个产业的一些二手材料中, 我惊讶地发现在景德镇陶瓷产业代表的中国传统产业中, 其表现出来的独特性和内涵是许多西方个案所不具备的 也这是这样的独特性让我去更有信心去质疑现存理论中的缺失, 以及这些理论在中国文化产业的不适应性 我在现阶段所采用的研究方法是 Grounded Theory 我的论文第一部分会先系统地讨论不同的世界观, 认识论和方法论 在第二部分的数据收集与分析中, 我会先从古典名著中去寻找产业运作的线索, 再者我需要到中国去做实地考察和访问 第三部分我会讨论一下现阶段学者在相关领域的研究, 如果能获得王老师的指导, 我能更好地对现阶段的研究做出合理的分析判断 奥塔哥大学是新西兰研究质量第一的学府也是新西兰最古老最优秀的大学, 而北京大学是中国文科类院校中最优秀的大学 我相信这样的合作对促进两个院校在各个方面的交流研究都是有益的 我的导师 Dr. André Everett 艾安德烈博士是武汉华中科大 EMBA 课程的海外客座教授, 他本人近年来每年都会到中国各大中城市开课, 并对中国文化产生非常浓厚的兴趣 他的专业领域包括国际管理 战略管理 运作管理和知识管理 在方法论上他是 survey research method 方面的专家 ( 艾博士简历 我们都希望通过对景德镇陶瓷产业的研究可以在中国文化产业集群整体研究中有所贡献 若能促成此行, 我需要申请新西兰研究生海外研究的课题经费 若北京大学能出示邀请函表示对我此行到北京和景德镇的研究合作的兴趣, 那将会大大提高我获得补助的可能性 本人将不胜感激 教育部方面只是需要我提供合作院校的一份英文电子邮件邀请函既可 经费申请需要在五月一日前寄出, 希望老师不吝在近日给我一个答复 我的计划是, 如果能成行, 九月到十月是最好的时间段 一是避免奥运会的人潮, 而是配合我的研究进度 这部分的研究只是我博士研究的预备, 相信在不久的将来, 我们还有更多交流探讨的机会 祝安康! 庄育婷上 33

148 Re: Request for Collaborative Research and Supervision in Traditional Clusters Dear Dr. Jici Wang, My name is Yuting (Jane) Zhuang. I am a masters student from the University of Otago in New Zealand. My research target is Jingdezhen porcelain cluster in Jingxi, China. I write to seek advices on current cluster research approaches in China; moreover, we also look forward to have research linkages with Beijing University in business areas. I am on my way to apply for New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Awards ( One of the objectives of the NZPSAA is to increase international education linkages and partnerships with participating countries, regions and institutions. I have read some literatures written by you in English and Chinese last year and included them in the literature review section for my 400-level international business report Conformation of Michael Porter s cluster theory through Jingdezhen porcelain cluster. I found that you are one of the pioneer researches in economic geography and clusters in China. You have great understanding of past and current economic geography and classical economics. In the past twenty years of cluster research, most of the distinctive researchers have been focused on industrial clusters, including Michael Porter. Porter mentioned his recent findings in Stenholm, Sweden early this year, one of them was there is no significant differences between high-tech clusters with other clusters in terms of job growth rate, salaries and patenting. It might be a good time to start researching on traditional cultural clusters. In the Competitive Advantage of Nations (1990), the cases with long development history are shipping industry in Vienna and ceramic tile industry in Italy. However, comparing to tea, porcelain and silk industries in china, these industries are very fresh. I believe that, the prosperity of Chinese cultural industry has to use Chinese-style cluster theory, in a way that Chinese could understand, promote strategies with Chinese features; in order to generate unique competitive advantage that rooted in Chinese culture. Perhaps, my concepts are very immature and lack of understanding on current cluster research in China. This concern drives me to base my research not only in New Zealand but also in China to gain more comprehensive understanding in this field. I believe that your supervision would be very helpful from this approach. This is my second year of masters, and second year of researching Jingdezhen porcelain cluster. In the first place, I picked Jingdezhen as my start-up case in traditional cluster research. However, I have addicted to it after one year of exploration. There are too many surprises from literatures about Jingdezhen that distinct it from the rest in the western world. The uniqueness and richness of Jingdezhen porcelain cluster grant me more confident of further research in traditional cluster and to doubt the adaptability of western theory in Chinese traditional clusters. I have planed to use Grounded Theory as my research methodology. In Part I, I will discuss the main streams of ontology, epistemology and methodology in management research. Part II will include methodology, data collection and analysis. The data section will include literatures about Jingdezhen cluster; and interviews and field notes etc from Jingdezhen. Part III will be the back up literature review of the current research on cultural clusters in the world. This part might be 34

149 improved significantly with your supervision. University of Otago is the top-ranked university of New Zealand in research; whilst, Beijing University is the top university in humanity. I believe that the education linkage between the two universities and two divisions is beneficial. My supervisor Dr. André Everett had visited Jingdezhen to collect some data for me during his teaching in China from end of 2007 to early He is one of the guest lecturers in the EMBA program of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. We both share a strong interest in Chinese culture and would like to contribute to cultural clusters (Link to André s personal profile: I am currently applying New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Awards (NZPSAA). It would be more than helpful to gain an invitation from Beijing University to show your interest in such collaborative research and supervision. An English invitation will do for this application. September to October 2008 will be the most suitable time for me to go over. One reason is to avoid the crowd of Beijing Olympic Games; the other reason is my research procedure. I am very likely to continue this research to the doctoral level, thus, such collaborative research will not be temporary, but it will last for a while. Your sincerely, Yuting Zhuang MCom Department of Management School of Business Commerce Building, Clyde and Union Streets, PO Box 56. Dunedin 9054, New Zealand Tel yzhuang@business.otago.ac.nz Request to Dr. Lili Fang 尊敬的方李莉老师, 您好! 本人名字叫庄育婷, 籍贯福建厦门, 是新西兰奥塔哥大学商学院管理系的一名在读硕士研究生 我写这封信的目的是希望有幸能够在景德镇陶瓷产业在能得到方老师的指导 ; 其次也在于寻求新西兰与中国在人文科学研究领域交流合作的机会 本人现在正在申请 New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Awards (NZPSAA), 这个奖项的目的之一在于加强新西兰院校与世界各学院之间的学术交流 由于研究景德镇陶瓷产业集群的需要, 我拜读了您的作品 景德镇民窑 (2002 年 由人民美术出版社出版 ) 从作品中, 不仅发现方老师对景德镇陶瓷产业横向与纵向都有深 35

150 度的了解及独特的见地, 更发现您对中国民族文化深深的热诚与尊敬 您对中国传统文化的热情在所谓的学术的理性中没有被压制, 而是更坚强地表现出来 本人认为中国文化产业的出路正需要这样在强烈的文化情感所支撑下坚持不懈地观察, 探索, 分析, 解释, 归纳, 整理与总结, 以找出最适合本国文化性质的发展道路 中国文化的传承不仅仅是民族性的问题也是个人性的问题 我们所流失的传统是我们作为中国人身份的重要组成部分之一 遗憾的是, 这些传统文化正在流失中 而我们也因此失去了许多探索了解我们自己民族的机会 今年是我对景德镇的研究的第二年 起初它只是我作为中国传统产业集群的一个切入点 当我对景德镇陶瓷的学习研究逐渐深入之后, 我心中越来越放不下这个陶瓷名镇 从关于这个产业的一些二手材料中, 我惊讶地发现在景德镇陶瓷产业代表的中国传统产业中, 其表现出来的独特性和内涵是许多西方个案所不具备的 也这是这样的独特性让我去更有信心去质疑现存理论中的缺失, 以及这些理论在中国文化产业的不适应性 现在关于地域经济, 产业集群, 专业镇等的研究立论都是西方的 中国学者在理论领域贡献极微, 较多是同一理论在不同环境的应用, 或不同经济模式中的应用 在谈到增长国家竞争力所用的创造力时, 立论也多是西方的 ( 我阅读的文献多为英文的, 中文的很少, 所以可能有偏差 ) 当我慢慢了解景德镇陶瓷产业, 我里面产生强烈的意识, 即中国文化其实是极富创造力的! 而这个创造力却没有自己的理论 光有创造力是不行的, 中国人还需要有适合自己的理论, 中国才能谈真正的可持续发展 西方的理论很多都是很优秀的, 但是否适用于中国呢? 这个问题需要我们更多地思考, 尤其在这个浮躁的商业圈 我在现阶段所采用的研究方法是 Grounded Theory, 这种方法论是 Qualitative Research 质的研究方法中相对严谨的 而它的特点在于细腻的数据处理与分析 我的论文第一部分会先系统地讨论不同的世界观, 认识论和方法论 在第二部分的数据收集与分析中, 我会先从古典名著中去寻找产业运作的线索, 其次我需要到中国去采集资料, 包括实地考察和访问 如果能有幸与方老师合作的话 我相信必定能事半功倍 我对方老师 2007 年 10 月到 12 月在景德镇所做的研究数据很有兴趣, 因为这组数据更接近我的研究领域 奥塔哥大学是新西兰研究质量第一的学府也是最古老最优秀的大学, 而中国美术研究院是中国人文科学研究的首府 我相信这样的合作对促进两个院校在人文科学方面的交流研究都是颇有助益的 我的导师 Dr. André Everett 艾安德烈博士也在去年十二月帮助我到景德镇陶瓷馆, 陶瓷民俗博物馆和考古地区采集一些材料 因为整个行程安排上的困难, 加上他本人不识中文, 所以他能收集到的材料非常有限 但是他仍然帮忙收集到景德镇陶瓷学院熊教授的 中国陶瓷古籍集成 以及您的作品 景德镇民窑 这已经让我倍感安慰了 艾博士是武汉华中科大 EMBA 课程的海外兼职教授, 他本人近年来每年都会到中国各大中城市开课, 并对中国文化产生非常浓厚的兴趣 他的专业领域包括国际管理 战略管理 运作管理和知识管理 在方法论上他是 survey research method 方面的专家 ( 艾博士简历 我们都希望通过对景德镇陶瓷产业的研究可以在中国文化产业集群整体研究中有所贡献 而当今之计必须先解决理论的问题 我们希望两个部门通过研究方法的探讨和数据资源的共享使中国在传统产业理论架构的研究上有所建树 若能促成此行, 我需要申请新西兰研究生海外研究的课题经费, 此经费将涵盖我在 中国的一切费用 若中国艺术研究院能出示邀请函表示对我此行到北京和景德镇的研究合作 36

151 的兴趣, 那将会大大提高我获得补助的可能性 本人将不胜感激 教育部方面只是需要我提供合作院校的一份英文电子邮件邀请函既可 经费申请需要在五月一日前寄出, 希望老师不吝在近日给我一个答复 我的计划是, 如果能成行, 九月到十月是最好的时间段 一是避免奥运会的人潮, 二是配合我的研究进度 这部分的研究只是我博士研究的预备, 相信在不久的将来, 我们还有更多交流探讨的机会 祝安康! Re: Request for Collaborative Research on Jingdezhen Porcelain Cluster 庄育婷上 Dear Dr. Fang Lili, My name is Yuting (Jane) Zhuang. I am a masters student from the University of Otago in New Zealand. I am currently reading your "Jingdezhen Private Kilns" published in It is an insightful book which provides enormously valuable social and economical data. I have held a special interest in the Jingdezhen porcelain industry for several years, and intend to conduct theory-based research into Chinese traditional clusters as my PhD thesis research topic in the field of management. Last year, I wrote a report confirming the applicability of Michael Porter s cluster theory to the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster as part of a post-graduate research course. Porter s competitive advantage model (which is well-known as the CAN model) is quite popular in regional economic research in China and the rest of the world. However, through analysis of some secondary data, I have found that the theory has some weaknesses when applied in the context of the Chinese economy due to the conflicts of philosophies of theory building, empirical case attributions, cultures, languages, social structures, government policies, cluster life cycles, etc. There is a certain amount of theory application failure in cluster agglomeration in China. My intended research into the Jingdezhen porcelain cluster is also for the purpose of finding a sustainable economic model for Chinese society to build its unique competitive advantages. Your data collection in Jingdezhen from October to December 2007 has some relevance to my area of research (referring to the Chinese National Academy of Arts website, 2008). I would like to ask if it would be possible for me to conduct collaborative research with your department. The University of Otago is the top-ranked university of New Zealand in research, and is the oldest and most prestigious university in the country. We are advanced in research methodology in a wide range of fields, such as philosophy and health sciences. The Chinese National Academy of Arts is the top-ranked arts research, education, and production institution in China. I believe such collaborative research would enhance mutual understandings of academic research in both countries and in both universities. Furthermore, we believe that the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement that has been signed this month would also welcome and encourage such collaborative research, which sparks new joint study areas in the traditional Cluster Research for our mutual benefit in humanities studies. My supervisor Dr. André Everett visited Jingdezhen also in December 2007 to collect some data for me during his teaching in China. He has been to the Jingdezhen Museum of Porcelain and 37

152 some other historical places. Dr Everett is an adjunct professor in the EMBA program of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. We both share a strong interest in Chinese culture and would like to contribute to cultural clusters from a business perspective. There are not many publications that discuss cultural clusters either in China or overseas, but high-tech clusters. We believe that Chinese cultural clusters have their own way of thinking and own way of managing and own way of learning. Before we could actually improve the cluster learning potential through action research or consultation, we have to first generate cluster theories from China for Chinese traditional clusters. This is the area the two university departments could work on together from different dimensions. (Link to André s personal profile: I am currently applying for a New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Award (NZPSAA), which would fully fund my intended visit to China. It would be more than helpful to gain an invitation from the Chinese National Academy of Arts to show your interest in such collaborative research. An English invitation will do for this application. Because the deadline for the award application is on May 1, please reply to me as soon as possible. September to October 2008 will be the most suitable time for me to come to China. One reason is to avoid the crowd during the Beijing Olympic Games; the other reason is my research procedure. I am very likely to continue this research to the doctoral level, thus, such collaborative research will not be temporary, but it will last for a while. Yours sincerely, Yuting Zhuang MCom Student Department of Management School of Business Commerce Building, Clyde and Union Streets PO Box 56 Dunedin 9054 New Zealand Tel yzhuang@business.otago.ac.nz 38

153 7.3.3 Invitation Letters Invitation Letter from Peking University Invitation from Dr. Lili Fang (Translated) 庄育婷 : 对不起, 这一段时间我到外地做田野, 没有看邮箱 我和我们课题住的学者们商量过, 愿意邀清你参加我们有关 景德镇陶瓷手工艺的传承与社会发展 的课题研究 我们这一课题是有蒋金国基金会资助的, 与法国社会科学院中国研究所合作的, 我们希望能由多个国家的学者合作, 对景德镇的陶瓷历史及陶瓷业进行不同角度的考察与研究 我们这个课题组的中方学者基本都是从事人类学专业的, 而法国方面的学者则是从事历史学研究的 如果你能从文化产业的角度来研究, 我认为也是有价值的 只是我们的经费有限, 不能提供你经费上的资助, 需要你从其他的渠道申请 祝 : 成功! 方李莉 Translated from the original from Dr. Lili Fang by candidate Yuting Zhuang for your convenience. 39

154 Dear Yuting Zhuang, I apologize that I did not check the s for a while as I was doing field research outside Beijing. I have discussed with scholars from our project team, we would like to invite you to join our research project on Hereditary and Social Development of Jingdezhen Porcelain Handcrafts. This research project was funded by Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (Link: This project cooperates with the French Academy of Social Sciences, the Chinese Research Institute. We hope to have multi-national scholars to research from different perspectives about the porcelain history and the industry of Jingdezhen. The Chinese scholars in our team are mostly specialised in Humanity; whereas, the French scholars are predominantly doing History research. If you can carry out studies from Cultural industry perspective, I think that would be valuable. However, the funding is limited; we could not provide scholarship for you. You need to apply for funding from other channel. May you succeed! Dr. Lili Fang 40

155 7.4 Appendix IV: Field Work Field Work in Beijing Peking University Campus Department of Urban and Regional Planning (Where Dr. Jici Wang s office located) Paralympic Games Flag 41

156 Panjiayuan Antiques Market Panjiayuan antiques market 1 Panjiayuan antiques market 2 42

157 Interview Transcripts Interview 4 September 2008 Dr. Jici Wang 9 月 4 日 15: 25 P.M. 采访对象 : 王缉慈老师年龄 : 62 岁教育背景 : 北大附小清华附中北大地质地理系 80 年北大教书直到现在 (2008) 研究兴趣 : 经济地理学中的工业地理学工作 : 北京大学城市与环境学院教授 Jane: 请问您对于中国产业集群的研究现状有何看法? 王 : 中国产业集群的研究可能是世界上最大的研究产业集群的队伍 现在很难统计有多少人在进行这方面的研究 基本上各个大学的经济地理专业 经济学专业 社会学专业 管理学专业, 甚至文化方面的专业, 工程方面的专业, 农业方面的专业都有人在研究产业集群 现在的现状时很多人还在看海外大量的文献 因为文献实在是看不过来, 太多太多了 很多人都是看国外文献或者是别人翻译过来的国外文献, 还有国内, 甚至是网上可以抄袭到的文献 就是用这些文献套用到中国产业集群的研究里面去 现在, 大量的研究还是处在一个初级阶段 Jane: 所以是不是说更多的是在于理论的运用, 并不是理论的创新和开发上面? 王 : 对! 对! Jane: 请问现在 ( 当前 ) 的学者是否更注重于集群的现代化发展, 或者更注重于集群本身的历史渊源 起源? 王 : 从我来说, 我不是很了解别人, 我还是更侧重于现代化发展, 尤其是目前中国产业集群所面临的问题和它升级的途径 Jane: 所以您会不会觉得说研究它的现在发展比较能够应付或处理现在的问题, 以至于您愿意更多花时间在现在整个集群发展上面 王 : 对, 对! 不过现在也已经有人开始从衍化经济地理学或者是衍化经济学方面研究它发展 43

158 的路径 Jane: 您提到有些人开始这样的研究, 那您觉得这样的研究是否对于集群现代化的研究有帮助? 王 : 当然有帮助, 这里面要说到到底什么是中国的产业集群, 就是中国有大量的所谓的产业集群 就是跟其它发达国家的那种 Innovative 的产业集群不一样, 创新性的集群是不一样的 就是中国的很多集群都是劳动密集型的, 很多的企业在同一个地方, 但不一定真正的协作 很多的企业之间甚至是恶性竞争的 而且可能今天很多的企业在一起, 明天就散掉了, 就不存在了 这种 survival cluster 在中国很多很多 所以我觉得 ( 我最近的一个感觉就是 ) 这样的集群和历史上所形成的那样集群没有太大的区别 所谓没有太大的区别就是它这样的, 我甚至觉得, 我不知道你知道不知道在四川德阳有个三星堆, 有个旅游区叫三星堆是青铜器的加工 一个三星堆的博物馆, 我到那看到三星堆的时候我就想到在青铜器时代这个周围一定有很多做青铜器这方面的一些作坊, 或者是很像 Marshall 的 Industrial History 这样, 所以呢, 现在所谓的集群, 其实就是这样的一种现象 历史上是很相像的, 而且跟现在发展中国家, 的像印度 巴西很多都是很相像的 并不是说这样一些就一定是 Competitive 的, 有可能他一下子就死亡了 Jane: 您可否预测一下传统文化集群的研究可能从哪几个方面对现代产业有帮助? 王 : 我想传统文化的产业集群, 这个问题我还是真没考虑过 你所谓的传统文化产业集群可能就是指的是景德镇这样的 Jane: 类似王 : 还能举得出其它的例子吗? Jane: 像苏州的丝绸 刺绣 茶工业, 包括像一些传统小吃美食这种方面 小吃还比较小一点, 但像丝绸 传统雕刻王 : 我知道了, 我们最近到山东高密那个地方还有剪纸, 还有河北蔚县的剪纸, 还有泥塑, 还有年画, 这些大部分都是在农村地区发展起来的 河南大学有老师一直在做这方面的研究, 他们叫做农村特色产业区 河南现在还有一些, 他们有一个课题研究当前农村的一些文化产业区 这样的一些区我觉得是现在很多工业化, 处于工业化初期阶段的一些集群的, 好像是它们的, 比它们更早一些的现象 但是也不完全是, 它们可能会永远存在的, 不一定说就会变成工业化了, 不一定会发展成现代工业 这样的一些集群, 它那个地方是有艺人, 老的艺人, 有老的手工艺, 有 touch knowledge, 有衍含经验为知识的交流 我倒是没有把它和现在很多的工业集群完全联系起来 但是我觉得那一方面要挖掘中国文化艺术的传统, 使它能够在国际市场上或国内市场上发挥经济的作用 这方面应该是很重要的 Jane: 我这次有发现国内开始有一个商标叫非物质文化遗产 王 : 对! 对! 对! Jane: 它好像成为旅游业的一个亮点, 像厦门有中华老字号, 中国非物质文化遗产, 这方面它就会刺激消费 王 : 我是很喜欢这一类东西的 Jane: 就你看来, 你也去过满多就是有传统文化产业的地区, 就像你讲的山东那个地方 您认为传统产业当中有哪些特点在现代当中没有很好保存或者流失的? 王 : 我看到 我常常想到小的时候的玩具 就比如现在常常在电视上看到的北京的庙会的像空竹, 玩空竹, 还有就是踩高跷, 还有陀螺, 这些很多的东西都是我小的时候玩过的, 但是现在都失传了, 很多人都完全不知道了 很多年轻人都完全不知道了 我觉得这一些传统的有文化内涵的产品都应该恢复起来, 都是非常值得发扬的 Jane: 根据您来看, 就是现在中国的集群当中, 有哪一些特质就是让它们很成功的? 就是中国有哪些成功的集群的案例, 它们有什么特质? 44

159 王 : 中国有一些集群我认为是很成功的 像温州的服装业, 我现在说不上它到底有多少企业 总而言之像美斯特邦威, 还有那个报喜鸟 美斯特邦威, 它叫作美邦品牌, 它前几天上市了 温州还有一家企业叫腾旭, 是温州一个女企业家叫徐云旭创办的, 现在也为意大利的企业作设计 温州为什么会出现像美斯特邦威或腾旭这样的企业呢, 我觉得它是在很多的企业, 配套企业, 很多的服装的企业竞争发展起来的 而且温州的服装协会很强大, 我昨天在网上看到它开始要投资 万建服装研发设计中心, 好像是在北京或者是在当地 我觉得像这种情况就是说它的服装产业集群就是比较成功 Jane: 因为他们已经有自己的研发中心 王 : 对, 对! 他们有自己的研发中心, 而且他们的协会很强大 温州的皮鞋业也是很不错的 它现在已经出现了很多的品牌, 像奥康, 还有康奈, 红蜻蜓, 好多的 另外福建泉州的服装, 像七匹狼 这些都是在改革开放以来当地有大量的配套企业的基础上发展起来的 Jane: 那您可不可以简要的来概括一下这些案例它们主要的几个特点 王 : 它的特点首先是他们有很强大的行业协会 当地本行业有一些比较大的龙头企业牵头成立的这些行业协会 这些行业协会呢, 可以经常和组织企业的一些活动 和政府一起组织活动, 比方说当地的一些展销会, 还有各种各样的论坛, 还有就是带着企业去参观甚至到国外去参观, 学习经验 另外就是本地有专业的学校, 像东莞就有鞋业学校, 培训这些方面都很发达 另外一个就是中国的这些产业集群的一个很重要的特点就是专业的市场 到处都有这样的专业市场, 像鞋业有专业的市场, 鞋料 鞋革在当地都可以解决 当然关于专业市场现在研究得很多了 还有很多当前的问题值得研究 另外就是政府的支持 首先是政府在一般这些地方就是改革开放做得比较好的, 就是本地有政府比较宽松的环境 然后就是有很多的企业创业 也就是说市场环境比较好 在凡是没有集群的地方, 或者是经济落后的地方, 一般就是市场经济条件不好的, 政府计划经济痕迹很明显的一些地方 所以政府是怎样一个角色是很重要的 在一些集群发展比较好的地方就是政府能够积极地配合行业协会做很多很多的工作, 甚至投资建专业市场, 或者做很多的基础设施的建设服务 还有就是有政策方面的支持, 对中小企业有政策方面的支持 还有一个特点就是跟刚才有关的就是有企业家 就是本地有能人, 有企业家, 能够自己去找钱, 去融资的能力 基本上就是这样一些 所以在这样的情况下, 本地的企业就可以共同进入国内和国际市场 有时候国际上遇到反倾销, 当地都可以应对 Jane: 讲到政府, 在我的观察看来就是政府的作用在东方跟在西方好像有点差别是不是? 王 : 是的 在中国政府作用很大 Jane: 我也发现这一点 我发现这跟文化性有关 西方可能个人主义比较强一点, 政府在实施 落实一些方案或者是计划的时候好像有点推不太动的感觉 在中国这样的问题好像不太大, 是不是? 王 : 对 在中国尤其是地方政府起了很重要的作用 你从奥运来看你就可以知道政府就是, 老百姓的话就是政府想干什么就能干成什么 Interview 09 September, 2008 Ping Chen 采访手记 2_ 姓名 : 陈平 年龄 : 28 教育背景 : 博士在读研究生 45

160 研究方向与兴趣 : 在全球价值链下的劳动地域分工, 中国的产业集群 职业 : 学生 Jane: 你现在接触集群有一段时间, 你对于现在中国的集群发展有什么看法? 陈 : 集群的发展看法的话, 我想因为从集群发展最初的研究包括 Porter 的概念引申过来的, 还是 Marshall 的新产业区这一块, 对中国来说呢, 实际上这种情况, 我的最大的看法可能是跟传统的那种不太一样 中国的集群它有一个自身的特殊性 像譬如 Porter 强调的, 他主要是创新性 集群就是一个优势, 可以带来创新 从中国来说呢, 中国的集群产生呢实际上跟国际上的产业转移相关联的 像发达国家它把加工阿, 生产制造的环节从本国转移到中国 然后在中国的沿海地区跟本地所谓的区位优势结合在一起 比方说它的劳动力便宜阿, 土地便宜阿, 靠近市场又靠近原料供应地阿, 很有可能形成集群 在这个集群它主要是一个起的作用主要就是降低它的成本 所以这是一种类型 另外一种呢, 我刚才为什么说是对于创新的它不是那么强呢, 主要是偏重于降低成本, 不是说是做更复杂的事情, 关注于产品设计啊, 关注于创新阿 另外一点呢, 就是中国本地, 地方的集群阿, 通过这种本地发展起来的 往往是民营企业 刚才所说前一个例子主要代表就是珠三角 主要是由外商投资带动起来的地方集群 你可能比较了解台商在东莞 现在东莞许多地方的集群主要是台企 另外一类呢, 就是民营企业家发展起来的, 像浙江温州, 包括福建的石狮 晋江的这些运动鞋, 包括石狮的服装 这些发展起来的它主要是靠本地的力量 我们现在讲的本地的力量呢, 它在那个集群的发展当中, 实际上它也是受这个参与到这个全球价值链 首先是参与全球价值链的过程, 因为它的主要产品是与出口为主 然后呢, 在这个过程当中呢这个集群形成的因素, 它可能有这些本地的因素 我刚才也说了, 它有企业家的创业精神啊, 包括当地经商, 营商的氛围阿, 它们当地有一些区位优势, 土地啊, 劳动力阿, 这些都比较便宜 主要分成这两类, 一种是外商的, 一种是本地企业家 Jane: 你觉得现在的学者是否更注重于产业集群它的现代化发展, 还是说很多的学者他们已经注意到集群发展它本身的根源性问题? 陈 : 现在的学者主要是研究集群和区域发展结合在一起 因为在中国呢, 有一个很明显的一个特征, 可能跟其它国家不一样, 就是很多情况下政府主导的地域发展 在这个过程当中, 政府的作用是非常重要的, 对不对? 政府要制定地方的发展规划去指导某一个行业, 甚至是某一个大的企业的发展, 这都有可能的 所以在现在这个集群的研究过程当中, 尤其重要的一个问题就是, 集群怎么去跟区域发展结合在一起, 怎么带动地方经济发展 所以在这个过程当中, 包括对集群现代化的研究, 包括集群如何升级阿, 产业结构怎样调整阿, 怎么去创造一个 creative 的环境阿, 这些都是尤其是集群研究所关注的 因为我们国家的这套体系呢, 不管是研究体系也好, 还是地方政府体系, 其实上就是政府主导 学者是为了地方政府, 地方区域发展来服务 Jane: 那你是否觉得说关于产业集群的研究就是从传统的产业文化产业或者是传统文化产业的研究是否能推动现代化工业集群的发展呢? 你有没有考虑过类似这样的问题? 陈 : 当然了, 我觉得呢现在对集群的研究来说, 我们恰恰忽略了这一块 像我们在以前说集群尤其是 Krugman 的经济地理, 他说在集群产生背景有一个重要的原因就是路径依赖 (path-interdependent), 路径依赖从他的理解来说他强调一个规模经济 我这个地方的产业发展达到规模经济以后, 我有一种网络效应可以连续发展 可以在死后形成一种路径依赖 但是我觉得呢, 这个路径依赖跟地方文化传统非常相关 像温州举个例子, 温州的产业集群为什么可以发展得那么快, 那么好, 当然它推动地方经济的作用也非常明显 重要的一个原 46

161 因就是温州人的文化传统 温州人的创业精神非常的强, 在全世界各个地方去经商 这个形成他们这个文化传统肯定在于一个传统文化的影响 然后, 另外呢就是一个集群他的产生发展, 有一类呢, 它是改革开放以后, 它接受外商投资, 本地开放程度加强以后, 它可以吸收外国的 FDI 到本地来集聚的 另外一种就是在中国传统文化的基础上, 比方说它在解放前都有, 甚至在清代 明代都有一直发展到现代 景德镇的历史就是这个 Jane: 你可不可以预测一下传统文化集群可以从几个方面去帮助现代集群的发展? 陈 : 我们现在知道人文地理学, 现在讲的就是文化转向 因为我们现在讲的很多的, 不管是区域经济的发展还是某一类的现象也好, 其实它有很强的文化的背景 我们到最后, 最终的源头在哪里, 是文化 这是一个非常重要的因素 这样像从美国的 Yufu Duan 他讲的, 现在也影响大陆的学者, 就是这种文化的因素越来越强调 这是一点, 就是我们在现在的研究过程当中强调文化这是非常重要的 另外呢, 文化因素传统文化的因素怎么去影响现代的产业集群, 跟现代产业集群相结合, 有一点, 就是说探寻这个集群发展最原始的动力 因为这个集群都是有很多类别的, 我们可以分成很多很多种, 像刚才我告诉你的有通过这种 FDI, 外商投资, 还有一种就是通过本地企业家, 他的这个创业精神结合当地资源, 生产要素 那为什么说跟传统文化产业结合呢, 就是说在本地生产要素基础上形成的产业集群 它的某些产业集群肯定跟传统文化是密切相关的 这是一方面, 就是探寻集群发展的初始动力 这是研究传统文化集群很强的一点 另外呢, 传统文化对于产业集群来说, 因为我们都在讲民族的就是世界的 文化的这种概念在我们全球化的背景当中, 在二十世纪后段,80,90 年代, 我们觉得全球化会带来一种危机, 会消灭我们的文化 但现在经过十几年的发展来看, 这种文化的东西, 民族的东西在全球化的背景下是更被重视, 更被发展起来 因为我们强调一种多样性的发展, 所以这种文化的东西在全球化的发展当中, 我觉得它以后的发展会越来越强调这个方面 就是说这些传统文化的东西, 民族的东西我们现在强调的在哪里, 它的创意性 比方说我们都知道现在这个产品的附加值越高, 对于一个产业的发展越好 我们判断这个船业, 尤其是中国的产业集群它只是制造的环节, 赚一点加工费 那我们觉得它是没有竞争性的, 或竞争力很薄弱 但是随着产品附加值的提高, 它的竞争力会越来越强 所以这种传统文化的因素可以放在附加值里 另外一个呢, 我觉得传统文化呢对这个产业集群实际上是一种, 我刚才路上已经讲了一个是路径依赖 (path-interdependent), 另外一个就是地方根植性 实际上这种地方嵌入性, 或者地方根植性, 在英文都是 Embedded, 中文里头它翻译成了两种, 一是嵌入性, 一是根植性 然后我们中国的学者还觉得这两个还不一样 你可以去看一下中山大学邱海琼的文章 他有讲这两个概念还不一样 然后就是说我们现在强调的地方根植性也好, 地方嵌入性也好, 实际上是一个文化背景下 地方根植性, 地方嵌入性讲的就是一种文化因素 这种强调是非常重要的, 还强调一种网络因素, 社会网络啊, 非贸易的, 这种网络当中传统文化是非常重要的, 比方说中国人很讲究的就是仁志礼仪信, 尤其是这种最初在这种社会网络当中, 信任的这种关系是非常重要的 我可以借钱给你, 因为我信任你啊, 我们都是同乡阿, 都是同族阿, 这个关系都非常重要的 还有一些像仁志礼仪信, 就是中国传统的, 还有就是一些儒家文化, 非常多 Jane: 那你现在就在研究集群, 在你的接触当中有哪些集群算是成功的集群 陈 : 成功的集群, 我们看它的历史发展的过程, 有可能现在很成功, 但未来的发展它没有竞争力 或者是某一天它的优势因素丧失的话, 那也就不成功了 这个没有绝对 现在发展的非常好的集群, 它未来的话可能会消亡啊 集群也是有生命周期的呀, 对不对 它也会产业转移, 今天在这个里面明天就走了 这都是可能的 Jane: 也有一些集群它的发展一直都是算是很强的, 就像那天王老师讲的就是温州的服装业 47

162 它有具备某些特质可以使他的集群可以继续性的进步, 可以体现出它的成功的特质 你会觉得有哪些因素对你判断哪些是成功的集群有帮助? 陈 : 这种阿, 我觉得还是一种地方氛围 就是当地的企业家, 或者企业家精神, 它具有不断创新的精神 它会去做一些高风险, 它有这种冒险的精神 就是要去判断它的这种企业家精神 如果当地大家都不想去创业了, 都想坐享其成那就会发展不好 就是说人的因素在集群发展中最重要的 Jane: 在讲到就是创新性的时候, 其实有很多传统的东西, 它本身就是一种创新 陈 : 对! 创新是什么呢? 我们现在讲的创新阿有一种改进型的创新, 比方我这个东西修修补补阿, 让它更好用, 更方便啊 还有一种就是颠覆性创新 就是熊彼德 (English name) 的那个创新理论 就是我突然发明一个东西把以前的东西全代替了 就像我们现在的液晶显示器把普通的那个 CRT 显示器都代替了, 这就是一种颠覆性的 你说的那个传统的东西对创新的影响我们要区分 它是在一种改进还是一种颠覆型 实际上呢在这种颠覆性它其实没有那么高的价值 Jane: 你说颠覆型的没有那么大的价值 陈 : 传统的东西在颠覆性的创新上, 价值不是特别大 比方说我们这个沙发已经用了几百年了, 但沙发的样式可能在不断的变化, 但突然今天时兴一个仿古的, 就是把中国的一个传统文化, 或者传统元素放在里面, 我们会觉得非常好 不可能说我有了中国传统文化的东西, 我们设计一种新的东西不叫沙发了, 我觉得那种东西更舒服 可能也有人觉得日本的榻榻米他们觉得坐在榻榻米上比沙发更舒服 也有可能 你就是要分清这个传统文化对创新的影响来说, 不是说传统文化的东西, 它肯定有利于创新, 这种说法是不成立的 就像我们说要突出传统文化产业的东西在什么地方, 比方说陶瓷, 你研究这个产业比较特殊 陶瓷我们中国搞了几千年了 Jane: 两千两百年 陈 : 然后就那个新石器时代, 那时候灰陶黑陶 你说这么多年的陶瓷它的创新强调的是那种外形阿, 设计阿, 这个因素 Jane: 然后就是那个过程的创新 陈 : 实际上陶瓷本身它的工艺没有变化 可能现在加入一些机器设备, 它的过程更为简单 但是主要的几个工艺流程肯定没有变化 包括你这个原材料高岭土, 没有变化, 对不对? 可能我们现在会加一些什么什么元素, 让它看起来更, 所以它的创新强调在哪里, 强调在它的设计, 或者过程 我这个设计好了就可以卖很多钱 Jane: 在历史的过程当中, 它有很多的创新还是, 可能很多人对于颠覆性的理解还是不一样 像它的一些技术, 烤瓷的技术阿, 还有就是泥土加入的成分, 不只是高岭 还有就是它在拉胚有一些很决定性的技术性的更新 我觉得这些 ( 创新 ) 都是一些蛮大的 在历史的过程它不断的在创新 陈 : 我觉得这怎么理解呢, 就是你要研究创新与否, 就要把一个产业摸透, 知道是怎么一回事 比如说我们宋代的青瓷 宋代有四大官窑, 或五大官窑 我们现在来说, 这个青瓷的东西还是非常好 看起来还是非常好 你说宋代跟我们隔了一千多年, 我们还觉得非常好 那你说明代包括景德镇这些, 青花瓷, 我们觉得青花瓷的东西非常好 那我们现在觉得欧洲的, 波兰 德国的瓷器它也非常好, 还有西班牙的 这个好不好与否, 还是人的主观判断 48

163 Jane: 你对景德镇有一些了解吗? 陈 : 一些了解 去年的时候我去过佛山, 佛山有一个陶瓷产业非常好 去佛山做过一些调研 跟他们陶瓷协会的会长访谈过 但是景德镇那边我没去过 Jane: 对陶瓷产业不管是景德镇或是佛山, 你有没有发现他们有什么样的问题需要去面对? 陈 : 当然问题很多啦 现在景德镇的陶瓷产业, 它已经落后了很多, 它跟佛山比已经落后很多了 不管从产业的规模来说, 还是产品的质量, 或者产品的附加值来说, 都比佛山差很多 但关键的问题就是佛山那边已经是世界的瓷都了 它的产量在世界算是比较高 那景德镇在不断地衰落 这是一个问题, 它为什么衰落, 我们现在知道解决它的问题去 它的优势是不是正在丧失? 我们研究它的产业发展, 产业发展有不同的优势 它的这些优势因素是不是没了 或者是消亡了 这个需要调研 所以说找到它的问题了 比方我们以前将, 景德镇的瓷做得中国最好, 不管是工艺也好, 设计阿什么都好 现在不行了阿, 现在佛山比它做得比它好 就是说它的这个设计优势已经丧失了, 被别人给替代了 Jane: 我研究景德镇最大的兴趣是在于它的生命周期 Life cycle. 它的生命链算是比较完整的, 比较长的 因为 Porter 在引用一些事例的时候, 它最久的就是维也纳的造船业 大概有 400 年, 但是景德镇的生命周期 Life cycle 算是比较完整的 就觉得蛮有价值去探索的 因为现在很多的研究都是处于集群的初期研究 Agglomeration 那样子的研究, 所以我会对这方面有兴趣这样子 陈 : 那你需要把文献资料找全 这个有困难吗? Jane: 去景德镇那边在继续找, 现在已经有一部分 陈 : 需要找一些陶瓷的 志, 中国阿讲 志, 县志阿, 尤其行业也有行业的志 地方志不是现在的地方志而是过去的地方志 清代的, 明代的 就是找景德镇的, 或者景德镇管辖的知府, 那个州阿, 那个志 其实很奇怪, 我们这个陶瓷阿, 你像宋代的四大官窑, 也没有景德镇对不对? 从唐代来说, 唐三彩在洛阳 后来再宋代四大官窑 到了明代它到了景德镇那边 为什么会转移这些都是需要回答的 Jane: 其实有很多都是政府的因素 它有一些机遇 opportunity, 还有政治中心的转移, 对它的影响满大的 那可不可以谈谈你现在自己的研究? 陈 : 我现在做得主要是全国的地域分工, 然后试图回答一下, 我们现在知道有全球价值链, 能不能形成一种国内价值链 这通过国内本身各种力量, 尤其是一种市场的力量, 形成一种国内的价值链 我现在通过以鞋业为例, 通过不同地方的企业 我不知道你对鞋业不知道了不了解 因为我们国内这个鞋业的分布非常广泛 你像温州它主要做皮鞋 福建的晋江它主要做运动鞋 然后广东的东莞, 它什么都有, 比较综合, 有皮鞋, 也有运动鞋, 也有凉鞋, 都有 然后像广东的揭阳阿, 这种地方主要做塑料拖鞋 像成都阿, 成都的, 它主要做女鞋 然后还有很多阿, 青岛那边也是主要做女鞋的 山东的高密, 主要做劳保鞋, 像油田工人穿的鞋, 下煤矿工人穿的鞋 像河北的衡水那个地方, 普通的布鞋阿 布鞋也有很多地方在做 就说, 每一个地方做的鞋都可以形成产品链的分工 每个地方做得形成产品链的差别, 为什么会形成这种产品的分工 回答这个问题 回答这些在一个全国的背景下 因为没一个地方生产企业的地方都会形成配套环境 它的这个鞋的配套环境, 像鞋面的这些材料, 真皮阿, 牛皮阿, 羊皮阿, 还有各种革, 还有后跟阿, 鞋的这种胶底, 还有塑料底阿, 鞋跟阿, 鞋扣阿, 鞋胶阿, 各种鞋的原材料, 它每个地方都有一个系统, 在整个全国背景下是一个怎样的情况 49

164 Jane: 那你接触的, 你会接触到不同地方的产业集群, 都是围绕着同一个主题 那么在这些集群的当中有哪些你会觉得是比较突出的集群? 陈 : 突出的集群像东莞那边做鞋的, 后街那个做鞋的 它跟我最初跟你讲的两个案例一样 两种类型的企业, 它那边主要是台资的 就是说台资的鞋厂, 它在这方面, 最开始在台湾, 迁到大陆, 到东莞 在东莞那边不断的衍生 扩大 东莞那边鞋的产量是非常大 它在这个集群的形成过程当中, 台商是非常重要的, 一个是跟它的形成有关, 在发展的过程当中, 它起了绝对作用 在每一个鞋的生产链上, 产业链上, 包括鞋机阿, 各种鞋机阿, 鞋的化工产品阿, 鞋跟阿等等, 每一个鞋的原材料上 台资都占有非常重要的作用 然后在这种鞋的销售过程当中, 台资的这种贸易公司阿, 也起了非常重要的作用 台资在产业集群的发展, 尤其是东莞那个地方的, 它的这种角色怎么去定义, 是不是一种新的模式, 这种模式在别的地方有没有 都是值得我们去关注的 Interview 10 September, 2008 Pengfei Li Interview 姓名 : 李鹏飞年龄 :24 教育背景 : 硕士研究生研究兴趣 : 沿海地区的企业最近这几年受到各方面的一些成本的影响向内地或东南亚国家迁移 产业转移是一个兴趣 还有一个就是集群的衍化, 它刚刚开始发展到现在, 经过了不同的阶段, 然后这样一个历程的研究 职业 : 学生 Jane: 请问一下你对于产业集群的研究现状有何看法? 李 : 中国的集群的话从国外引进来到现在已经十几年了 所以现在研究的人很多, 也来自于不同的学科 不光有地理学的, 还有管理学的, 还有经济学的 比起国外的研究实地的调研还不是很足, 所以说现在的研究还有很大的空间 中国的集群和西方的集群由于社会还是经济这样一个背景差别特别大, 所以中国的集群肯定有一些独特的东西, 值得去挖掘, 值得去研究 但我们现在还在探索中 Jane: 所以当前的学者, 你说它的研究的队伍很大, 那他们是不是更注重于集群现代化的发展, 还是说更注重它的历史起源? 李 : 我觉得国内现在集群研究的文献还不是很多 总体的一个感觉就是问题的解决 一些理论方面的探讨还不是很多 就是以实际应用为导向 Jane: 你的意思是拿现成的理论来实际运用吗? 李 : 可以这么说, 但是也有很多是没有理论, 就问题论问题 就是说集群现在有什么问题, 然后大家就来讨论有什么问题, 怎样去解决 就是很实用的一种态度, 一种导向 Jane: 然后不知道你对于传统文化产业集群有多少了解 李 : 文化产业集群倒不是很多 北京这边倒是有一些, 像那边 798, 不知道你去过没有 还 50

165 有一些, 我们小组的话之前有师姐她们做过一些文化集群 譬如有个师姐做过画家村的那方面的研究, 做过一些 Jane: 那你觉得这一类型关于传统文化集群的研究是否能推动现代化产业集群的研究, 或者是影响? 李 : 对于这种文化产业集群的研究对中国的这样一个发展或者现在这样一个现代化进程有没有一些推动因素 肯定有阿, 我觉得肯定有 像很多原来是纯粹制造的话, 现在由于各方面因素的影响, 像成本提高, 劳动力 土地成本上升阿, 很多原来的低成本的优势, 慢慢地在削弱 有些像我们小组有一个师兄, 他是台湾动漫产业的公司的老总 他就说很多中国的这些产业走产品文化化 就是在往文化的方面转 提升产品的文化内涵, 提升附加值 我觉得是一个发展的方向 但也要看产业, 不同的产业有不同的侧重 Jane: 那你可不可以想到从哪些角度传统文化产业可以帮助到现代化 ( 集群的发展的 ), 你刚才也有讲到就是提高它的文化附加值 还有其它方面你可以想到吗? 李 : 你是说文化产业对于整个其它的? 还有一些就是, 举个例子就是我们前一段时间到山东潍坊去调研, 就是中国有很多传统的手艺, 就像你做的这种景德镇研究吧 传统的产业, 就是这种历代相传的手艺, 你可以去挖掘这种手艺, 怎样去把它推向市场 市场化的运作方式, 复兴传统的工艺 这是一个很重要的一个方面 Jane: 那么我想可不可以让你来谈一下你个人研究的方向 李 : 我刚才提到一个就是产业转移, 一个就是集群的衍化 从去年到现在一直在关注中国的铝型材产业 铝型材产业的话主要也是在广东那边, 南海的铝型材还是比较多的 我们从去年调研到现在, 觉得他们整个发展的话, 可能和中国其它地区的发展有相似的背景 就是从改革开放到现在, 改革开放是它们发展的最早的时期, 一直到现在 他们这种产业的发展离不开它们历史的背景 在中国刚刚改革开放的时候, 九十年代的初期, 这个经济是处在一个卖方市场的 就是你做出来的产品就是有人会买 处在这样一个背景下, 南海那边的小企业就是那些企业家他们觉得, 看这种铝型材, 原来香港那边做, 他们觉得他们也可以做 因为市场有这种需求, 他们就在这样一个市场需求的导向下发展起来的 但是很多像现代的这种, 比方像这几年的经济形势的话和原来就是差别特别大 现在就不是当时那种环境了 所以说很多的地区它再要去发展的话, 去打造一个集群的话, 已经没有那种历史环境了 通过我们的调研, 那些铝型材发展它是有一个特殊的历史背景的 在那样一个历史背景下发展起来的 那种历史背景已经过去了, 所以现在我们再去模仿南海那边的铝型材或者其它产业这样一个发展的话, 我觉得基本上很难, 不可能去模仿 因为历史已经过去了, 它不可能再 ( 重演 ) Jane: 或者像 Porter 讲的那个机遇 Opportunity. 李 :Porter 讲的那个机遇的话, 我觉得太宽泛了 你说机遇的话, 你可以说当时的话有机遇, 现在没有 也很难把那样的一种历史归做一种机遇 当时的话, 当时的历史条件的话, 确实是一种很大的机遇 但你也不能说现在什么机遇都没有了 当时的话是那种传统产业, 那种企业家的话, 他只要能够做出产品的话他就能发展起来 现在的话, 不是说没有机遇, 而是说要求不一样了 这种网络, 很多的这种企业家通过这种网上买卖, 他也可以发展起来, 他也可以发展得很好 不同的历史阶段有不同的机遇 但那种机遇已经过去了, 现在的话不是说没有机遇, 是有机遇, 但现在的这种机遇已经有别于之前了 你用南海那边九十年代有经验, 用他们那种经验在现在去发展也是很难成功 因为历史条件不一样, 但不是说现在没有机遇了, 而是说机遇变了 我觉得可能是这样 51

166 Jane: 你是说某些历史因素是不可重复, 不可模仿的? 李 : 对! 对! 所以就是在经济地理学里, 有一个潮流就是说很多地方的这种现象, 不可能摆脱它的大的历史背景 所以说你要了解地方的这样的发展, 不可能抛开大背景去谈地方的发展 就是要把这种大的背景放在地方的背景下考虑 中国的话, 最起码从这个铝型材方面, 这种看法是很准确, 很恰当, 很中肯的 Jane: 那你也接触过满多的集群的 李 : 但很多就是, 谈到其它产业的话很多就是蜻蜓点水的那样的了解, 不是了解得很深入 Jane: 没有关系, 我觉得接触的多你会形成一种洞察力 比方说你觉得某些集群它很成功 李 : 我觉得深圳那边就非常的成功 就是它有一种氛围 也可能是它在历史形成的, 但一直保留到现在, 他这种氛围的话是很好的 但其它地方的话就觉得欠缺一点 Jane: 所谓的氛围你可以讲得具体一点吗? 李 : 其实我觉得我们也很难去描述 就是说我们去调研的话, 深圳那边的话每年都有很多的小企业去产生, 每年肯定也会死掉一大批 每年的话它可能会产生一些不是很多小企业它发展得很好, 它治理结构也很好, 它的发展速度也很好, 它的这个产品和市场定位的话都很好 就是这些有潜力的小企业的话它每年都不断地冒出来 就是它为什么会冒出来, 我也一直想了解 为什么深圳这个地方会冒出这么好的一些小企业, 有很大发展潜力的小企业 我们也很困惑 但是从这样一个现象, 最起码能看出深圳那边, 它有这种氛围 Jane: 就像 Marshall 他有讲过商业氛围 Atmosphere, 他说 business atmosphere 是很重要的 李 : 但是具体地去描述它, 真的就是, 你知道氛围就是无颜无形的, 就是只能去感觉 Jane: 它是动态的那种 李 : 对对, 我觉得很难去捕捉到 但深圳那边确实是不一样的 Jane: 你是说你一进去到那个集群里面, 你就感觉到不一样? 李 : 不是 像我们吧, 如果我们不是从事某个行业在深圳呆了很长时间的人, 去调研一个星期或一个月的话, 可能也感觉不到 就是他们那种真正本地的, 真正了解这个行业的人可能他们才能真正感觉得到 我们的话不一定能感觉得到 Jane: 那你从什么途径来感觉到它的氛围? 李 : 就是访谈的时候有一些企业家, 他们通过访谈他们可能会有一种流露, 本地的话有这样一种氛围 我们也是透过他们间接的来了解到 我不知道其他人怎样, 我的反应比较慢 反正, 我没有直接感觉到 只是听他们企业家这样说的 Jane: 除了氛围以外, 你从这一些比较成功的集群当中, 可以看到他们有什么其它的特质? 李 : 其它的特质阿 一方面肯定就是一批企业家, 他们就像硅谷那样, 敢于冒险的话, 的那种企业家, 企业家精神 一批的企业家 还有一个我觉得很重要的就是地方的政府 地方政府特别是在早期 有很多的政府的话在早期这个推动作用是特别强的 不像西方很多文献所讲到的集群很多是自发的成长 那么在中国的话, 至少我们调研过的集群, 早期的话, 地方政府的推动作用是很明显的 52

167 Jane: 我们可不可以讲说深圳那时候的地方政策就是 ( 很好 ) 李 : 大环境的话, 肯定就是很重要的因素 但也很难说, 它是最重要的, 或是唯一的 它靠近香港, 这种地域上的联系也是很重要的因素 很多这种企业的话, 都是学习香港的企业, 它才发展起来 Jane: 那在你研究铝型材当中, 南海的铝型材算是比较成功的案例 李 : 相对来讲是比较成功的 他们现在有这种很多的本地发展起来的大企业, 比方像亚洲铝业 已经有一些比较大的企业, 有很多这样的企业已经上市了 有很多企业把总部已经迁到香港去了 它已经做得不管是管理, 产品已经慢慢地朝跨国公司的方向去长 像很多的企业它已经去很多地方去建分厂 还有在不同的地方, 它有不同的企业有不同的工厂 我觉得它是一个正在向一个比较好的方向在发展 Jane: 你刚才提到有一点我觉得很有兴趣, 就是说中国研究集群的人很多 李 : 因为中国人很多 Jane: 因为其实王老师她也有谈过研究集群的人, 中国研究集群的人在世界上算是最强大的队伍 李 : 人很多, 但是集群研究里的在中国的这样一个地位还是很低的 但可能有一个阶段吧 可能有语言上的因素 比较好的企管都是用英文写的 像王老师那一辈的 还有再早一点的 他们由于历史的影响, 他么可能英语不是学的很好 这是一个制约的因素 他们在自己最好的时候, 不是做自己专业的, 也不是学英语或者干嘛的 因为他们已经老了嘛, 也很难再去改变 Jane: 我反而觉得做中国传统产业的研究, 你看太多西方的理论, 不一定是很好的事情 李 : 最起码要了解在集群研究里的话, 大家都在讨论什么主题 你可能说中国这边有特殊的地方, 可能和你的不一样 但你最起码要了解国外的是一个怎样的情况, 然后你中国对国外的这种研究可能是一种颠覆, 一种挑战 但你要, 最重要的是要说出它为什么是一种挑战 你要了解中国的, 也要了解国外的 Jane: 其实我为什么要研究景德镇陶瓷其实也是有一点小野心, 想要有一点颠覆 因为我觉得说西方理论在中国现实情况下, 你要直接运用呢, 那是不现实的 因为这个理论的根基的文化背景不一样 李 : 对阿, 对阿! 我觉得不能说是野心 中国人去研究中国的这种现象的话, 肯定要根植于本地的这种文化 跟那个中国的特色去研究 这才是脚踏实地的研究 Jane: 现在讲的比较多的是 cluster innovation, innovation cluster, 然后 competitiveness, 之类就是讲的比较多 讲到最后好像中国没有创新了 就觉得意大利的才叫做创新 李 : 像很多产业里的, 很多企业的话是他们的优势还是低成本的优势 但是肯定是一个阶段的 像日本和韩国, 他们也都是通过这样一个阶段 包括香港那边都是一样的 所以是一个阶段的, 集群为什么从这种低成本的优势转化到依靠创新的这种优势, 这种过程是怎样实现的 应该是有非常重要的意义的 Jane: 我觉得不是说中国没有, 但是从某一个角度上讲的确是说它从低成本到附加值比较高, 它添加了创新的元素 但是我觉得创新也不仅仅是这一个方面的创新 像中国的美食, 中国 53

168 的食物, 它本身就很具有创新性 还有中国很多传统文化的东西是很有个性, 很有创新性的 李 : 很多手艺的话, 都是这样的 Jane: 我比较纳闷, 当你讲到创新的时候, 到底什么是创新 是不是必须得脱离初级阶段, 进入高级阶段才叫做创新 还是说从比较低层次的就有创新 李 : 也有很多中国的产业它创新很多, 但它产业的控制权是在国外的 品牌的话是在国外的 比方说你的企业可能有很多的创新, 但是真正的产业的剩余价值索取权的话是被国外所掌控的 权利结构的话, 也是一个很重要的角度 经济地理也有一些探讨 Jane: 当然是讲到某一部分的外资企业, 它的 R&D Centre 不会直接设在中国 比方说我的老师有研究汽车 有很多在中国设厂, 但在中国的流水线都不是最发达的 比方说日本的一些公司, 它在中国设的厂他的机器设备都不是最先进的 是落后好几代的 李 : 对阿, 这是个问题 Interview 11 September, 2008 Xintong Interview 姓名 : 童昕年龄 :33 教育背景 : 北京大学从本科一直到博士研究兴趣 : 工业地理中的环境保护职位 / 工作 : 经济地理系副教授 Jane: 我想请问一下, 你们在中国研究集群, 你觉得中国集群的现状是怎么样的? 童 : 我认为中国集群可能是经过了比较快速发展的阶段 目前普遍的感觉来说可能是遇到了一个发展的瓶颈, 危机比较明显的一个阶段 尽管如此, 我认为它未来发展的潜力依然很乐观 Jane: 那现在从业的人数是怎样子的呢? 童 : 你如果是问产业集群的从业人数的话是很难定义 首先取决于你怎样定义产业集群 什么样的地方, 什么样的产业可以算是产业集群 或者你问普通行业, 差别也很大 普通地区差别也很大 所以我觉得这个问题很难回答 Jane: 那在于你所接触的集群的当中, 你有没有接触一些你认为比较成功的产业集群? 童 : 我自己在过去的研究中从研究生开始主要集中在电子业, 电子信息制造业 所以我个人感觉电子信息制造业在中国是一个相对比较成功的产业 那么这个产业当初在 80 年代中国刚刚开始改革开放, 就是说进行市场开放比较早 所以政府确立为一种放开的产业 因为它本身的基础比较弱, 市场保护的当时的动力不是很强 所以当时市场开放一个非常明显的一个结果就是经过十年以后的发展就是发现在这种弱保护的产业里它的这个发展规模, 发展速度却远远超出国家保护意味比较强的产业 这是一种非常有趣的现象 另一个就是说它的电子业是非常受益于全球化的 我们知道在过去三十年经济全球化, 它在不同行业, 不同地区发展是不均衡的 但是在电子业, 它是一个非常突出的受益于全球化, 受益于全球生产 不论是发达国家的市场, 还是发展中国家的生产都非常受益于全球生产网路的快速增长 给这样一个新技术的发展创造了非常好的条件 那么在这样一个大的宏观的背景中国的电子制造业应该是得到了一个非常好的发展机会 不管是从地方生产者的学习, 它的技术水平的提升, 以及中国本地消费市场的成长, 都表现出一种让世人瞩目的发展的一个条件吧 这是我印象比较深刻的, 我长期以来关注时间比较长的一个产业 那么其他的话我想还有很多 还 54

169 有在国际上比较认可的各种劳动力集群的消费产品 这些呢大家会质疑它的技术含量不够高啊, 还是中国的劳动者并没有从这当中获得很大受益阿 尽管存在这些质疑, 这些产业的发展实际上还是给中国大量的就是在社会转移过程中农村劳动力转移提供了历史性的劳动岗位这个条件 所以我认为这也是, 就我认为在过去三十年的改革, 至少对这个改革是个非常正面的影响 这样的产业, 王老师接触的非常的多 她的很多的学生做过服装 鞋业 家电 家电曾经被看作技术含量很高的, 但现在越来越趋于一种成熟的技术产品, 我们不排斥它有部分高端产品有科技含量, 但从它整个产业来说, 它是趋向于一种普通消费产品 还有就是像纺织 玩具等等, 我想王老师一定跟你讲很多 Jane: 你刚刚讲到说电子业在发展起来的时候, 它是弱保护 那政府在这边的作用你觉得是怎样子的? 童 : 我觉得在电子业, 尽管它在贸易 进出口上是个弱保护, 相对于其它产业来说, 关税阿, 配额方面放开的比较早 但是政府在另一个方面在需求方面对它的发展起了一种很大的促进作用 中国比方说在大学 工业还有政府, 还有银行, 等等这些领域推动了这些信息化的项目, 或者信息化的服务, 我想这些都是创造一个需求 这些虽然市场保护不够, 但是它创造了一个新的需求, 在这个新的需求下, 它不光给海外的产品, 进口产品市场空间, 也给国内生产者市场空间 而且它创造的是一个市场, 它给国内的生产者和国外的生产者一个合作的机会, 因为它蛋糕在这里 生产者可以合作, 国外的生产者有技术, 国内的生产者更了解国内市场需求 那么它提供一个合作的桥梁, 合作的机会 所以我觉得这确确实实通过这种需求来带动产业发展 应该说是蛮成功的 Jane: 那你可否概括一下这个集群的特点, 就是有几个特点 童 : 我认为它首先在地域上形成了几个比较明显的集中, 比方说在南中国的珠三角阿, 长三角阿, 京津这一带 很明显的集聚, 这就是典型的产业集群的特点 它分工细腻, 而且从整体上规模也相当大 不管国内, 还是国外市场份额都是相当突出的, 它的市场份额很显 再有一个特点, 就是很直观的, 再有一个就是全球价值链分工的一个特点 它有一个地理性的分工 珠三角的话, 它可能就是出口, 它和其他消费品很像的就是出口导向 长三角一带可能比较混合一点 它既出口, 它同时也对国内市场也是非常好的区位 那么在京津这一带, 相对来说就是国内需求的主导性更强一些 看上去它是一种地域分工, 但同是他们之间的联系也很强 比方说很多企业在北京有市场有研发, 它在广东深圳有生产基地 它有可能在上海也有生产基地 台资的话它可能两边都设厂 这种分工阿, 合作的模式在业界也是很认可的 它在投资在寻找合作伙伴的话, 它也会到一些集群去, 很有目的性的区走 所以我觉得这应该是它比较明显的特点 Jane: 那我想请问一下, 就是当前研究集群这一块的学者是比较注重集群现代化发展, 还是比较注重集群根源的探索? 童 : 我觉得现在在这一两年吧, 国内研究集群的人非常多 我觉得这两种都有 对历史传统, 我个人觉得还是与产业不同有关 比方说像电子业这种行业, 它的历史传统你很难去挖掘 但像纺织品, 像服装设计, 可能王老师有跟你谈过, 他们的确有非常强的历史传统 像宁波的西服, 它历史上就有奉化裁缝的传统在 这些裁缝都是到上海去做西装 就是刚刚上海开埠的时候 它就是有历史传统, 那么改革开放以后, 西服这个市场很明显的就复兴起来了 所以传统产业里的确有这个文化的因素还挺强的 所以就跟你研究的产业有很大的关系 Jane: 那你觉得对传统文化集群发展的研究是否可以帮助现代化集群的发展, 可以从哪几个方面来帮助它? 童 : 我觉得这可能也要以几个不同的产业来说, 比方说本身有传统特色的产业, 比方说江浙一带它有丝绸产业 丝绸产业原来是江浙出口的大户, 计划经济时代就是, 但是相对于, 一般的轻纺, 普通的纺织产品是在改革开放以后成长更快 曾经有一段时间就对丝绸产业有冲 55

170 击 主要的原因是由于丝绸不同的机制阿, 管理体制阿还比较传统, 比较僵化 但是我们看, 实际上我们换一个概念来考虑发现当这个传统产业出口, 尤其是这个轻加工出口, 它到了一个产业升级的环节的时候就会发现当它往高端走的时候, 它的文化价值的魅力还是非常强 就是说, 衣服穿在身上, 舒服是一个方面, 流行是一个方面, 但是其中的品味, 就是说它不管消费者也好, 设计者也好, 它有一个 Taste, 这个 Taste 它对于异文化, 另一个文化元素, 它有一个猎奇心理 猎奇心理就是它要和它越不同越好 而这个不同来源于文化渊源的不同 那么同文化, 同一种文化的话就有从历史遗传下来对这个东西好坏的评判 比方像这种丝绸, 不要说古人了, 就说三四十年代的老一代人, 他们对丝绸就有非常讲究的, 怎么样挑选 色泽 质地 怎么样的绣花 绣工 还有怎么样的剪裁 这种衣服怎样收拾, 怎么样储存, 怎样洗 一件旗袍可以放几十年, 拿出来还是非常好 它有一套你说文化也好, 你说生活方式也好 它就有一套围绕你的品味隐藏在生活中一点一滴的东西 当你说这种东西怎么和现代化结合的时候, 就存在一个很大的问题 就说这个现代化, 衣服我每年都换, 它 fashion 本身, 它对流行, 对时尚的追求更多 在价值体现在那一部分更多 它可能并不看重我衣服做得很结实, 还有我这衣服怎样保存得好啊, 我的衣服怎样可以品味就是经历时间考验的这种品味啊, 它可能就淡化了 很多文化在新的世纪里它可能只是一种符号 它给人一种东方的感觉 或者给人一种复古的感觉 所以这种东西就和原来传统文化追求的那种品质, 那种价值就不一样了 但是我们现在在强调文化的时候就是很泛泛而谈 就是我说我去保留文化, 但是你现在的生活已经不是那样子的生活了 你怎么可能去保留刚才我们讲的那种文化 一个女孩子在她新婚的时候做的一套旗袍, 她要年年日日的保存, 每年拿出来穿, 穿了又放回去, 放在箱子底, 用樟木箱子里存下来 可能没有这样的生活方式了 所以我觉得这个东西是一个困境 所有中国含有传统文化含义的这些所谓的老产业集群所面临的一个困境 Jane: 我觉得如果从文化体现出来的外显特性来讲的话, 它会遇到你讲的那种困难, 因为已经时代不同了, 它在 practice 的时候已经不是那种样子了 我在想说这些古老的这些集群它们在整个发展过程当中, 我觉得它们会有一些特点可以值得去研究的, 比方说它们集群在发展的过程当中它是怎么样子升级的, 就是它怎样一步一步升级的 那它这些可不可以对现代集群有一些帮助 童 : 我觉得你说的这个产业集群升级, 我们实际上知道升级就是扩大它的价值含量 所以我们要考虑谁在购买这些东西 我们要考虑这种市场价值细分的, 那买贵的在任何一个市场都是少的, 是呈金字塔形的 大众市场就是量大, 所谓就是有高支付力价值的市场的规模小 那么中国的市场它在进入全球价值链的时候是由底端进入, 先满足这个大众要求 只是国外的购买力比我们强, 所以它们的大众要求对于我们来说就是相对于较高的要求 那我们有更大量的平民要求, 从一个短缺经济转过来的, 要求质量比较低, 价位比较低的 所以我觉得这个市场就是说你说高支付能力的消费群体, 你才有高价值的产品 换一句话说, 就是在任何一个传统文化它的市场都是细分的 那么像中国 法国这种中间社会传统比较强的文化里, 他都有, 比方说我们国家的瓷器, 它就有官窑和民窑 那么官窑就是高价值的, 一年只做几百头千把头 但是我做的这些呢, 都是皇帝用的 都是精挑细选的, 做了几万件后挑出一千件最好的, 给宫里送去, 剩下的做残次品, 以前这种残次品甚至要打碎, 不能流到民间 后来渐渐才, 官家也没那么富了才拿去卖 但相对来说, 民窑的量就很大, 但相对来说就很便宜 传到现在我们也知道, 我要收藏的话, 我要收藏官窑的东西, 官窑的东西就值钱, 民窑的东西就不值钱 这个就实际上说明历史你要说它是升级也好, 说它是垄断控制也好, 它存在的价值链是有分化的 那我们现在看流传下来的, 知名的都是官窑 历史上存在过的大量的民窑, 窑堆没有了, 消失了人们也不是很在意 你很难说它是升级, 确实中国的几大官窑, 如果你看它历史的发展, 它是有一个此消彼长 就是说可能原来政治中心在西安的时候, 那时候著名的官窑可能就在那附近, 比如说耀州瓷, 也是烧官窑 陕西的耀县 开封那周围也 56

171 有 汝窑, 钧窑 所以说这些东西, 他们到底如何确立了官窑的地位我没有研究过, 你可能得去访谈陶瓷方面的专家 它可能也有一个升级过程, 可能大家都在烧瓷器, 哪一家就提升起来成了官窑了, 大家也不要知道 那你说除了这一种, 它国内这种市场细分, 肯定官窑是很少的, 还是以民窑为主体的 只是我们不知道历史上, 不关注历史上的民窑 还有那一种, 就是泉州那边的瓷器 那他自古以来都是出口的 它的出口就是有高端的也有底端的, 高端的有出口到波斯阿, 到欧洲王室阿 这么远距离出口的瓷器本身就已经是很奢侈的东西了 Jane: 其实景德镇的民窑也有很多通过泉州出口到中东那一边的 童 : 你说那个时候是高端还是底端, 那时候你能支付得起这样远距离运输的产品的人就已经是整个社会比较高端的产品了 那个时代和现在已经很不一样了 现在反而在中国很贵的瓷器, 景德镇烧一部分仿传统的, 仿古的瓷器 你在市场上看到的很多高端瓷器反而是从意大利 西班牙那些地方进口过来 说到底就是说生活方式变了, 你要的这些它的质量 它的形象也好 那么你还是那个高端的胃口, 你能品味, 那你只能不断的去仿那种技艺 它不符合现代生活, 就好像我也买过, 景德镇的这种仿古瓷器, 它买过来只能摆设, 不是用的, 烧得很漂亮 但是我们现在也不会在瓶子里插梅花 也不会用那种玻璃缸养鱼 很少, 我们会用那种自动换水的那种养鱼 那我们现在需要的瓷器是要一种很轻巧很好洗, 表面很亮, 然后它的用法, 就像现在喝咖啡, 喝茶阿, 这些用法 从这个角度上要转型是很困难的 人家对你的认可, 对你的价值, 对你的技艺的认可也不在那个上面, 你说他烧不出咖啡壶或者是茶杯吗? 也不是 但你说我要买茶杯何必非得要买一个景德镇的烧造的, 或在概念上给它一个很高的价值, 或者花很贵的钱去买一个 我曾经买过一个景德镇的笔筒, 瓷烧的还镂空的, 非常漂亮 我在想这个东西买的人就很少 如果真用来插笔, 我反而用一个食品盒, 如果经常用的话我反而用这种, 它不怕摔, 不怕跌, 不怕碰 我那个瓷器在那, 我反而不敢把笔往里放 做得非常精致, 外头雕花的我总觉得一不小心把它给碰坏了 所以说景德镇的瓷器就给你这种感觉就是远远的不太能接近 和你的生活不太一样了 Jane: 那你对于我做这一方面的研究, 你觉得我有什么地方需要注意, 或者他有什么样的点我可以去探讨的 童 : 我个人觉得你应该去访谈一些瓷器收集者 他们有一些比我内行多得多的讨论 我个人很喜欢瓷器, 但 unaffordable 我买的瓷器都是自己看着玩的 真正很贵的瓷器我是买不起的 但是我非常喜欢 就是说瓷器这种东西它的文化价值差在这个地方 就是会有人非常喜欢 当你非常喜欢的时候, 那个瓷器是会有生命的 你想想在, 瓷器的发明是非常伟大的 它就是沙子, 然后土市烧出来的, 但是烧得这么好看 它在古代食品灭菌是个很大的问题, 不要有细菌沾染, 瓷器它表面的质地非常好, 它很容易洗, 然后给你感觉就是非常干净 而做得非常好的瓷器就会给你有生命的感觉 然后就是为什么瓷器会让人有一种心痛的感觉, 然后舍不得用它 真的有价值的瓷器都是有一种很精致你很舍不得用, 然后看, 放在那, 把玩 我们知道流传历史常的瓷器比玉器银器还要贵呢 就是因为它保存的很好 如果你要拿它当个物件使, 你看我用的物件, 我这人手不是特别稳, 所以我用物件, 我都不舍得把物件打坏了 所以你如果把它当物件来使唤的话, 所以你关注它的使用价值的话, 它就不会是一个非常, 就像你说的升级和增值很高的东西 中国的所谓的道家文化就是无为用, 有为器, 无为用 就是我这个东西作为器品拿来使的时候就有, 那么它真正, 无为用就是它真正, 当然了, 这句话这样用可能还不太合适 它真正很无形的那一部分, 是它价值体现的那一部分 然后那一部分你要找这个行业党中, 非常投入的去看它的人, 非常去研究的人 我相信他们给你提的建议更有价值 你可以到琉璃厂阿, 潘家园阿去转转, 看看 包括我推荐你去故宫里去看一看 你去体会一下这个瓷器它好在哪里 它可以做得像玉的感觉, 像纸一样的感觉, 有时候我看了以后觉得你怎么可以拿这样的碗吃饭 Jane: 所以之前我还没有想到要去找瓷器收藏者来采访 我只是想到去采访当地的一些工匠 57

172 童 : 你去采访工匠是应该的 因为你这几天还在北京, 你好好的看一看 因为景德镇它曾经最大的用户都在北京, 不是都是皇帝在用吗? 所以它的好东西很多都在北京, 包括它的为毛主席使用的那些, 为毛主席特烧的 Jane: 也是景德镇烧得 童 : 对! 景德镇曾经在七十年代烧过一套梅花的一套, 也是当时烧了很多, 从当中选了最好的那套是送到北京来 就是你看它那种价值的驱动模式, 和那种普通的消费品是不一样的 因为那种价值不在了就是说你在这种普通的是市场上, 当然西方也有很富的人买那些瓷器, 回去也不是拿来盛饭的 这种人在社会上就是少 所以瓷器烧出来这么多, 有几件就是能够找到知音把它们收藏下来, 一代一代像宝贝一样传下去 就像人一样, 这么多, 但遇到那样待遇的却那样的少 Jane: 我也觉得是景德镇的瓷器它分成两个层, 一个是非常低, 一个是非常高 现在你也可以非常便宜就可以买得到景德镇的瓷器 所以这个产业要找到对的路子, 不然它现在底下的都是在亏本的 就是不是一个经济非常好的一个现象 童 : 实际上就是我刚才说的那个, 就是它在民用的这一块还没有让人认同它的价值 以传统上讲, 我们觉得说现在这种现代的瓷器的烧造技术冲击的情况下, 它就和其它民用瓷器一样 就是说中国现在是烧瓷器的地方还不少 像唐山唐陶, 也是中国烧制陶瓷比较多的地方 因为陶瓷这种东西不适合远距离运输, 所以它在很多地方都会有烧陶瓷的这种工业在 就在民用这一块, 景德镇搞不搞, 怎么搞, 我也说不出来 因为他在市场品牌的口碑阿, 至少在目前来说都不是特别有优势 反而我们市场里面, 超市里面很贵的瓷器都是韩国的, 台湾瓷器, 更高端的就是非常贵的在北京的一个奢侈品店里它的瓷器都是意大利的啊那些地方来的 这种市场, 景德镇能不能去从新去进入, 从新去建立 这个都很难, 因为整个中国人的生活方式都在西化 它还不像日本, 它一边在西化, 一边保留一大片日本传统的生活方式, 领地在 它的很多的工艺还是在这个领地里生存下去 不过我们整个生活方式西化得非常彻底 就是很少有人在过需要那些器物的生活, 这种问题不是景德镇本地能够解决的 它要烧制像意大利那样的瓷器或者像韩国那样子的瓷器 按理说, 韩国跟中国的传统文化很像 但它烧制的瓷器给人的感觉也是非常漂亮的 就是那种花呀, 质地阿, 给人的感觉非常的细腻的, 同时它还可以微波, 有一些新的特性在那里 我不知道这些方面景德镇是否研究过 Jane: 其实景德镇在历史上来讲, 它是有根据市场需要有产生非常多的变化 就像雅俗文化 它有雅的文化, 也有俗的文化 它的适应生存能力还是蛮强的 可是这几年, 它好像走不出历史的阴影, 还是怎么样的 就是不能够像以前一样一如既往的变化, 就能产生新的风格 它在生产一些波斯 中东的一些风格的东西的时候其实它也是采用了他们的设计 然后采用了当地一些比较风靡的一些图片, 然后它为英国做的, 就有英国的风格 其实它不是适应性很差 但是这几十年的发展来讲, 可能从解放一直以来, 就很难烧制出适应生存能力比较强的物件 童 : 这个我觉得你应该很值得去研究 这些东西我确实是不太懂 确实你从你的立场来看, 可能建国以来的过程可能对它的打击很大 它经过一个国有化的过程, 然后再转制 可能在这个过程中, 这个市场阿 技术阿 创新能力啊, 会有什么变化 这些可能得你去研究 中国在瓷器烧造还有很多地方, 比方说是佛山 王老师去过, 原来在佛山做过项目, 我们也都去参加了 佛山陶瓷在国内还很有名 佛山陶瓷其实它市场化很强烈的地方, 它的这个陶瓷转型的时候, 我们看到它转到哪里去了, 都转到建筑陶器去了 中国房地产工业的那个建筑陶瓷, 使用量大, 而且利润也非常高 所以它不在这种民用瓷器上 民用瓷器就在这两年我感觉民用瓷器非常贵 在超市里买瓷器的时候 在我小的时候, 碗非常的便宜, 两块钱, 一块五 有时候翻过来看, 居然是景德镇的 看你怎么看了, 就中国建国以来这种社会制度改造, 我想当时候很大程度还是想到我怎么来满足最大多数人的最基本的需求 你用什么方式 58

173 来满足, 可能原来的方式不够好, 其实市场化还是在解决这个问题 我要用最便宜的手段来满足最大多数人的需求 所以那个需求我们来看, 其实等到你有升级需求的时候, 你已经把那个 taste 给破坏了 就好像我去美国的时候我有一个朋友对我说, 就是美国那个叫 China buffet, 就是中餐自助餐, 就是把中餐的 taste 给破坏掉了 中餐本来是和意大利大餐一样正式, 很复杂, 很高品位的一种饮食文化 结果给 China buffet 一弄吧, 弄得吧也不像中餐 你进去一看, 每个人盘子里好像是各种杂烩在一起 可是它很便宜, 然后很风靡, 然后就给很多人感觉这就是中餐 我的朋友跟我说吃中餐就是吃 China buffet 外国人推荐说有个 China buffet 你可以去吃 这怎么说, 就是你一个市场的趋势 就是你刚刚市场转轨的时候, 就会转向这种最有市场化需求的那种类型里面 那你进了那个类型里面要往上抬就很难了 这就是为什么对于这种问题, 我没有研究过, 但自己感到有趣, 中国古代这些民窑当中, 怎么蜕变出官窑出来 可能一开始大家都是烧造这种, 但这个还真是不好说 这个历史到底怎么回事, 还真是不知道 原来这个老百姓是先用陶器的, 这个瓷一开始就是高端产品 它从高端产品慢慢变得便宜了以后, 质量比较低的平民消费 所以这个很难说, 能不能逆向从这个平民消费从中推涌出官窑的这种高品质的品牌出来 Jane: 这个就像, 之前有个老师叫作方李莉, 她是中国艺术研究院的老师 她就讲说中国的官窑和民窑是互相竞争而合作的 就像 Porter 讲说 Coopetition, 就是 Competition and Cooperation 都有, 就产生了当时候民窑和官窑的水平比较接近 而且很多官窑, 有时候烧制赶工的时候, 缺乏一些工人的时候, 也会从民窑当中比较好的工人挑选去 所以它们不是完全独立没有联络的 童 : 所以我觉得你这个研究很有意思 你如果能把这些就是历史上为什么那么成功, 现在它为什么会有这样子的困境 然后可以很系统的给大家展现出来 这个故事本身是很有意思的 但是我说的可能不是对你的贡献很大 Jane: 有的有的 其实你对瓷器的了解还是蛮多的 童 : 我确实很喜欢瓷器是真的 就是我看到好的瓷器我会非常有感觉 所以我也很能理解有钱人为什么会花那么多钱去买 确确实实你看到一件做工非常好的瓷器, 是会让你感动 所以我建议你, 不一定要去找很多人去聊 去看, 看非常好的瓷器 北京是一个宝地, 琉璃厂, 潘家园, 还有一些老东西, 故宫, 首都博物馆 Interview 17 September, 2008 Jingmi Wang 访问手记 Interview Transcription 姓名 : 王敬甯年龄 :33 教育背景 : 北大在读博士研究生研究方向 / 兴趣 : 产业集群跟区域发展职业 : 学生 Jane: 就你所说, 你已经是博士第三年的学生, 就是有看过很多的文献, 那你对于中国产业集群研究现状有怎么样的看法? 王 : 现在研究的人非常多 不同领域的人都很关注产业集群的发展 因为我觉得中国的产业集群算是相当发达的, 就是和世界上其它地方相比较起来 就是管理学 经济学 地理学 社会学等等都对集群有很大的关注 有些比方说像政府, 或者像一些不是学术界的人也是会 59

174 用集群来描述一些现象, 但是很多时候不是我们对集群的认知的概念 就是一些集群热潮在中国就是有它特殊的时代背景 所以造成了从上到下, 大家都在讨论集群 但是真正了解集群它的概念和意义是什么的, 并不是每一个人都能够很确切了解集群的意义是什么 Jane: 那么从经济地理学的角度来说, 集群的概念是什么? 王 : 因为经济地理学比较关注的是各种经济活动在地理空间的分布的情况, 然后它形成的原因, 所以会比较 focus 在空间 在一定的空间范围内, 各种经济活动在这个地方内集聚的情形 所以说, 如果有同类的上下有相关的企业, 在同一个地方聚集, 然后他们之间有一定的联系, 关系的话, 这个就相对上比较符合我们对于集群的认知 Jane: 那还有什么其它的方面你有发现现代研究的特点? 王 : 你说在中国? 研究集群的特点, 在台湾的话, 在台湾不用集群这个词 但因为都是一样 cluster, 大部分是讲一个群聚的现象, 因为台湾不是很大, 所以基本上北部, 中部, 南部都有不同产业群聚的现象 比较有名的像新竹科学园区, 像一个 Learning Region 有些学者及较关注它跟 Silicon Valley 之间的关系, 然后跟中国大陆这边的联系 那是在竹科 那如果是在台湾中部的话, 就是机械器具 就是机械器材, 群聚的现象很明显 南部的话, 现在也有科学园区 打造了三个, 一个是新竹, 一个是台中, 一个是南科 然后他们分别是在不同的领域 比方说在南部的话是面板 做液晶荧幕的那个面板在南部的那个地方群聚 在台湾可以研究的案例, 可以说实在是不多 所以也有很多人关注大陆这边 有很多是台商在大陆投资的情况 然后为什么选择在这个地方群聚 Jane: 那你研究侧重的产业是在哪里? 王 : 我现在比较关注的是深圳的数字电视产业 它的那个产业链很长, 而且很复杂 目前是以数字电视产业, 因为在深圳它的群聚现象很明显 所以这应该是我的博士论文 Jane: 那你现在去做过几次调研了? 王 : 我去做过两次调研 就是去年暑假一次, 今年暑假再去一次 Jane: 那对于你现在研究的数字电视, 你觉得它有什么特点? 王 : 它就是产业链很长, 然后很复杂, 这个产业, 就是数字电视产业, 因为它包含了硬件制造的部分, 然后也包含了软件 那因为这个数字电视所涵盖的不只是那个电视机本身 Even 是电视机的制造, 它所需要的零组件非常的多 然后要观看数字电视节目, 还需要有 Setup Box, 这边叫机顶盒 然后, 机顶盒的制作里面它需要比方说是芯片 因为奥运的关系, 这边是极力推广, 所有奥运直播的节目, 都用数字形态, 然后都是用 high definition 播出, 对 大家都可以看到高清晰度的电视节目 然后, 机顶盒它里面都需要芯片, 还需要软件 因为你还要制作像 Menu 一样的让人家点选 所以它就包含了 digital content, 这个产业也在里面 它从上游, 到下游, 再到 User, 然后再看, 它的产业链非常长 然后它需要的零部件非常的多 Jane: 那你觉得深圳的数字电视产业算不算是一个成功的案例? 王 : 嗯, 应该说它有它的历史背景 深圳最早就是电子产业 早期那边就是做电视机的 就有三四家中国彩色电视机的龙头 然后它周边的配套非常多 它可以把电子产品里面很小很小的零件, 螺丝钉那种, 它也不是市场, 你要找各种都有 其实上最典型的应该说是手机 深圳的手机, 如果你有到过深圳华强北电子市场的话, 就像你所说的市场, 它有一整栋楼, 全部都是卖那种要做手机的所有的零件全部都有, 像那边也有很多手机的摊位 山寨机你有听过吗? 比方说我们买过像 Nokia, Sony Ericsson 品牌的, 但那边山寨机是它没有品牌, 因为价格就很便宜 就很多不合法的, 黑牌的 比方说 Nokia, 它就不是写 Nokia, 中间换一个字母, 但看起来很像的 类似那样的 一个商店小小的一个柜子, 它就可以生产所有你可以设定的手机 店里面都可以生产出来 所以那个地方手机生产集群非常非常明显 就是产业链非常非常完整 数字电视的话, 它需要的零部件就更多了 所以它在深圳那个地方就是, 60

175 其实深圳还算是蛮大的 在高新区内之外, 它在特区, 特区外, 像龙岗都有很多很多的工厂, 有些有品牌的像做机顶盒的也好, 做电视机的也好, 它会把工厂设在周边 有的甚至会在惠州, 也在深圳的周围 基本上就是整个大深圳地区, 这样讲的话 东莞听说没有, 就是这整个区域, 配套很完整 Jane: 那除了你自己关注的这个产业以外, 你还有没有发现有哪一些集群算是比较成功的集群? 王 : 成功的集群 温州那里, 应该是 但是我觉得今年的情况很特殊, 比方像东莞那边很多工厂也都倒闭了 我觉得今年变化非常非常的大 因为像很多台商的工厂也都倒了 尤其在东莞那边很明显 Jane: 原因是什么? 王 : 大部分那种劳力密集型的企业都是, 比方说像劳动合同法的实施, 有最低工资的要求 还有就是原物料的上涨, 它的成本提高太多 还有就是人民币不断的升值, 就是美金一直贬值, 然后很多的计价都是用美金, 那么出口就很不利 倒得非常非常多 Jane: 你对景德镇陶瓷有了解吗? 王 : 我没有去过, 但是我想我想大家都知道景德镇的陶瓷产业 因为我以前是在台湾教地理 所以我们都会提到 像我妈之前去玩, 去玩都会买景德镇的瓷器 Jane: 景德镇的情况我大概讲一下, 景德镇它的陶瓷产业有存在 2200 年 我现在为止还没有找到比它历史悠久而且还存活的集群 那它的 Life cycle, 就会变得很特别, 因为它的 Life cycle 就可以足够长, 可以让你研究 我们现在研究集群阿, 我们只能研究它起初的, 不能研究它的 Maturity, 它现在只能研究 Birth, 如果我们没有一个足够长的 Life cycle 可以研究的话, 可能说很不现实, 或者说很难做 Prediction 所以我就去做这样子的一个研究 就你看来, 对景德镇这样一个传统文化产业的研究, 是否对现代化一些产业有帮助呢? 然后, 从那些方面你可以看到说有帮助? 王 : 因为中国崛起, 所以只要跟中国元素有相关的东西都很值得研究 像东南沿海, 其实都是因为改革开放, 那些都是后来的政策 像景德镇瓷器之有名是就像你刚刚说的, 它的历史非常非常悠久, 而且它一直持续到现在 但是它确切在景德镇内部有一些工厂嘛, 有一些设计的这些师傅, 我就不是很了解他们之间的联系情况是怎么样的 举一个例子, 就是台湾有一个地方是莺歌, 也是做陶瓷的 那个地方的陶瓷也是非常非常有名 所以那边就有比如说设计, 即使是传统产业也要不断加入新的元素, 才能让那边的产品有 Market( 市场 ), 销售能推广 所以说像这种手艺制作的人才, 我对景德镇就不是非常了解, 然后它们的工厂之间彼此的关系是怎么样的, 我觉得研究这个是很有意义 如果能确定他们彼此之间的 Network, 他们彼此之间的网络情况是怎么样的 他们如何共同面对中国其它地方有没有同样做陶瓷的产业它们之间的竞争关系是怎样的 然后跟海外, 它的市场销售情况是怎样的 海外那种做 Design 的, 对景德镇是不是有兴趣, 是不是有一个怎样的联系 我觉得做这样的研究应该很有意思 Jane: 我想请问一下现在中国的学者是否更关注于集群现代化的发展, 还是更关注集群的历史的根源呢? 王 : 我觉得这两者之间的关系是不可或缺的 因为每一个集群的发展一定有他的历史背景 它如果没有很深厚的 Background 的话, 它很容易走向衰亡 就是它可能就是昙花一现, 就消失了 所以如果说有比较悠久的历史 所以就像我刚才跟你说, 如果能像景德镇可以往前推它的历史是怎么样的 因为当时它肯定不叫 cluster, 比方说它有我们以前叫做 Jane: 我们以前有过行会 王 : 它主要是商人之间的 像这个如果可以把它串起来, 这也很有意思 即使只是商人之间, 如果可以找到一些资料, 讲到商人之外的, 比方说景德镇那边有没有什么学校, 它是不是有 61

176 培训人才阿 Jane: 其实很有趣 景德镇陶瓷有七十二道程序 然后每一道程序, 有一个家族非常厉害在那一边 比方说有一个家族姓黄的在拉胚很厉害, 它就很厉害 所以是整个家族在那边做 很有趣的是工序跟家族的关系 王 : 这有点代代相传的关系 这就在中国很有特色 中国人就很讲究你是同门, 同们师兄弟, 同姓的, 同学阿, 同乡阿, 就很容易有特殊的感情 这样的话它的基础才能比较稳固, 有比较直接的联系 Jane: 所以你是同意对传统文化产业集群的研究有助于集群现代化的研究对不对? 王 : 传统产业如果一直传统下去的话, 它没有办法跟现代做一点联合接轨的话, 很容易就消失了 如果能够在传统产业找到一些创新性的元素, 很有创意的东西, 很有设计感的东西, 它就跟现代结合了 现在的人也有人返璞归真, 去买很复古的瓷器在家里喝茶, 那有人去买那种看起来很旧很旧的东西, 对吧? 就像我们买杯子, 如果可以有点设计感的东西, 即使是很传统的, 一样可以赋予它新的元素嘛 Fieldnote after 4 Interview Field Note According to Interview 4, Dr. Tong introduced several places in Beijing for me to visit antique and new Jingdezhen porcelain. Beijing, the capital city of several reigns is the biggest consumer of fine porcelain wares. Today, I visit Panjiayuan Flea Market. There are some spots specialized in antique Jingdezhen porcelain found overall China. There was one spot selling Jingdezhen antique found in Fujian province. The porcelains were probably found in sank ships along the coastline of Fujian province. There was a antique collector using microscope to look at the surface of a vase, it was to exam whether that piece is really from that age and is really from Jingdezhen. He said, the antique market is a mess in China at the moment. The real stuffs missed up with fake ones and are very hard to tell; even antique specialists could not distinguish a real antique and a fake one (Pomfret, 2008). He said now Jingdezhen produce different kinds of porcelain and ceramics, the market is quite broad. After that we also visit some shops that sells new Jingdezhen wares, they looks new and very flesh. It is different to tell the styles as many of the new ones even are not fake ones (as the shopkeepers told us they are new porcelains), the styles are very similar to what we just found in the antique spots. The price range is quite wide from several hundreds to several thousands. The market does not have a standard price. It could be just in the reproduction and antique market, not other markets, however it requires further exploration. Pomfret, 2008 Ming knock-offs firing collector s ire, Otago Daily Time, August, p Field Work in Jingdezhen Photos at Field Fanjiajing Fake porcelain village 62

177 Jingdezhen porcelain museums 63

178 The Four Jingdezhen Porcelain Divisions- Samples Reproduction of Ancient Porcelain from Fanjiajing 64

179 65

180 Qing Dynasty Stream Porcelain from Arts Porcelain Factory and International Porcelain Fair Contemporary Porcelain from Jinchangli, Sculpture factory and International Ceramic Fair 66

181 (Above is a craft by a local artist in his early 30 s) 67

182 (Above are some ceramic accessories designed and made by a students from Nuxun Arts Institute in the northeast) (Above is a sample from Franz porcelain Ltd at the International Ceramic Fair) 68

183 Kitchenware from International Ceramic Fair by Jingxing Porcelain Factory Interview Transcripts Interview I: Kuang Kesheng, Shaojiwu, Interview Transcription 地点 : 筲箕坞姓名 : 匡科胜年龄 :35 教育背景 : 大专工作 : 政府公务员, 老婆是搞瓷器的, 做瓷器的工作地点 : 在筲箕坞, 古陶瓷一条街 Jane: 那么现在在筲箕坞古陶瓷一条街有多少个店面? 有多少个卖陶瓷的从业人员? 匡 : 店面的话有五六十家左右, 不到一百家, 反正具体的数目我也没有做统计 但是从业人员大概有两三百个 有两三百家陶瓷, 因为他们都是同租一个货架的 合租一个店面的 Jane: 像这样合租一个店面的话, 他们会是竞争对手吗? 匡 : 像他们合租一个店面的话一般都不会是竞争对手 我们做陶瓷的话, 有一定界限的 比方说, 做图案的人必须做自己图案的, 不能去做花鸟 ; 做花鸟的人, 就不能去做图案 都有分工相当明确的 不会因为你的瓷器好卖, 你的花鸟好卖, 就去做你的花鸟 这样就会产生矛盾与冲突 就不可能在同一个店面里头, 一起去经营 Jane: 我们刚开始聊天时有说过陶瓷业很清楚 或者画花鸟, 画山水, 画图案的都是不同的人, 你可否再重复一遍 69